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RATIONALISM     IN    EUROPE 


VOL.   IL 


HISTOEY 


RISE    .A^TD    I^TFLTJEITOE 


OF   THE    SPIRIT   OP 


RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 


KV 

W.    E.    H.    LECKY,    M.A 

REVISED    EDITION. 

IN     TWO     VOLUMES. 
VOL.    II. 


NEW   YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

1,  3,  AND  5  BOND   STKEET. 
1893. 


-f  3 


"3  s  3  :• 


COINTEOTS 


OP 


THE     SECOND     VOLUME 


CHAPTER    IV.—  Continued. 


THE   HISTORY  OF  PERSECUTION. 

Men  who  believe  the  Doctrine  of  Salvation  in  the  Church  alone  will  always  persecute— 
Success  of  Persecution  shown  in  the  Cases  of  the  Japanese  Christians,  the  Alblgen&j*, 
the  Spanish  Protestants,  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  the  Laws  of  Eliza- 
beth— Weakness  of  the  Objection  derived  from  the  History  of  Ireland — And  from 
that  of  the  English  Dissenters — True  Causes  of  Opinions — Influence  of  the  Levitical 
Laws  on  Persecution — Opinions  of  the  Fathers  determined  chiefly  by  their  Circum- 
stances— Uncompromising  Tolerance  of  Laetantius — Constantine  persecutes  the 
Jews — And  the  Heretics — And  the  Pagans — Review  of  their  Condition  before  Theo- 
dosius — Destruction  of  the  Temples  in  the  Country  Districts — Libanius — Even  in 
the  Days  of  Persecution  Cyprian  regarded  the  Levitical  System  as  tho  foundation  of 
dealings  with  Heretics — Theology  of  Persecution  systematlsed  by  Augustine — His 
Character  and  Influence — Aversion  to  tho  Efi'usion  of  Blood — St.  Martin  and  Am- 
brose— Opinion  that  Ecclesiastics  should  under  no  circumstances  cause  the  Death  of 
Men — Increase  of  the  Corporate  Action  of  the  Church  stimulates  Persecution — /he 
nrst  Monks — Ruin  of  Paganism — The  Church  was  then  for  several  Centuries  an  al- 
most unmixed  Blessing — Decomposition  of  the  Medieval  Society  renews  Heresies — 
Which  are  encountered  by  Persecution — Innocent  III. — Unparalleled  Magnitude  and 
Atrocity  of  the  Persecution  perpetrated  by  Catholicism — Protestants  persecuted  n»>t 
BO  atrociously,  but  quite  as  generally,  as  Catholics— Examples  in  Germany,  England 
Ireland,  Scotland,  France,  Sweden,  America,  and  Holland — Persecution  advocated  01 
practised  by  Luther,  Calvin,  Beza,  Jurieu,  Knos,  Cranmer,  Ridley,  Melaiichthon,  elc 
— Soclnus  Mid  Zuiuglius  tolerant — C,'.s»"llio,  his  Life  and  Writings — Answered  t>i 


CONTENTS   OF 

Calvin  and  Beza — Persecution  by  Protestants  peculiarly  inexcusable — Comparaliv* 
liberality  of  Erasmus,  H6pital,  and  More — Position  assigned  by  Bossuet  to  Sociniaus 
and  Anabaptists — Persecution  a  positive  Dogma  among  Protestants — Toleration  fa- 
Toured  by  the  Mingling  of  Religions  produced  by  the  Reformation — And  by  the 
Marriage  of  the  Clergy — And  by  the  greater  flexibility  of  Protestantism — Proof  of  this 
Is  in  a  comparison  of  Tolerance  in  France  and  England — French  Tolerance  based  on 
three  forms  of  Scepticism — Montaigne,  the  Sceptical  Man  of  the  World — Descartes, 
the  Sceptical  Philosopher — Bayle,  the  Sceptical  Scholar — The  '  Compelle  inirare  '— 
Political  circumstances  favourable  to  Toleration — Comparison  of  the  Eegency  and  the 
Restoration — Influence  of  Vice  on  Historic  Development— Voltaire — Intolerance  of 
Eousseau — Revolution  removes  all  Civil  Disabilities  from  Jews  and  Protestants — 
Catholicism  incapable  of  adopting  Religious  Liberty — Bull  of  Gregory  XVL— Ir 
Protestaat  Countries,  Tolerance  the  result  and  measure  of  the  advance  of  Rationalism 
— "Writings  of  the  great  Divines  of  the  seventeenth  century  lead  to  it — First  Move- 
ment during  the  Rebellion — Policy  of  Cromwell — Contrast  between  the  Independ- 
ents and  Presbyterians — Ilarrington — Milton — Jeremy  Taylor — Repeal  of  the  writ 
'  De  Haeretico  comburendo ' — Intolerance  of  Hobbes — Attitude  of  the  Clergy  during 
the  Revolution — Toleration  Act — Abrogation  of  the  Censorship — Establishment  of 
the  Scottish  Kirk — Complete  Tolerance  of  Protestantism — Review  of  the  influence 
of  Rationalism  on  the  Method  of  Enquiry  .....  Page  II 

CHAPTER   V. 
OX  THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS. 

P  Secularisation  of  Politics  consists  of  two  parts:  the  elimination  of  Theological  In- 
terests from  the  Motives  of  Policy,  and  the  substitution  of  a  Secular  for  a  Theologi- 
cal Principle  as  the  Basis  of  Authority — Religion  and  Patriotism  the  chief  Moral 
Principles  of  Society — The  First  the  Moral  Principle  of  Antiquity — Type  of  Charac- 
ter it  formed — Patriotism  the  Moral  Principle  of  Judaism — Corresponds  to  the  Spirit 
of  Sect  in  Religion — Christianity  in  the  Roman  Empire  triumphed  .a  the  condition 
of  transforming  itself  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  Sect — Complete  ascendency 
of  Theology — The  Crusades— The  Church  replaced  the  Civil  Government  when  the 
latter  proved  inefficient — The  Truce  of  God — Contest  between  the  Regal  and  Eccle- 
siastical Power — A  Comparison  of  the  Crusades  and  the  Religious  Wars  shows  th<j 
declining  influence  of  Theology — Alliances  of  Francis  I  and  Richelieu — Close  of  Re- 
IL'ious  Wars — The  Inquisition  separates  Religious  Questions  from  Politics— Sketcl 
ot  its  Constitution  and  Progress — The  Doctrine  of  the  Incapacity  of  the  Magistrate 
to  decide  Religious  Questions,  which  is  the  Basis  of  Modern  Tolerance,  first  advo- 
cated in  favour  of  the  Inquisition — Collisions  with  the  Civil  Power— Difficulty  of  De- 
fining Ecclesiastical  Offences — Unpopularity  attaching  to  the  Inquisition — Decline  of 
Persecution — Suppression  of  iltrrtk-al  Hooks  still  continued — Its  prevalence  in  the 
Early  Church — Reuchlin — System  of  Religious  Disabilities  next  abolished — Change 
In  France  effected  in  IbWI — That  in  England  accelerated  by  Irish  Policy— The  Irish 


THE    SECOND   VOLUME.  7 

Parliament — The  Clergy  disappear  from  Offices  of  Power — Review  of  the  steps  of 
Secularisation— Decline  of  the  Temporal  Power  of  the  Pope — Political  Life  acts  pow 
erfully  on  the  Theological  Habits — It  diminishes  the  sense  of  the  Importance  ol 
Theology — It  leads  to  a  neglect  of  General  Principles — Difference  between  the  Politi 
cal  and  Philosophical  Standing  Point — Injurious  effects  now  resulting  from  the  as- 
cendency of  Political  Modes  of  Thought — Important  Influence  of  Political  Life  in 
promoting  a  True  Method  of  Enquiry — Three  phases  of  the  Conflict  between  the  Sec- 
tarian and  the  Judicial  Spirit  in  Politics— The  Secularisation  of  the  Basis  of  Author- 
ity— Passive  Obedience — According  to  the  Fathers  all  Rebellion  sinful — Considering 
the  Anarchy  and  Worship  of  Force  that  was  then  general,  this  Teaching  was  favour- 
able to  Liberty — The  Election  of  Bishops  by  Universal  Suffrage — Conflict  between 

f  the  Pope  and  Kings  favourable  to  Liberty — Power  of  Deposition — Moral  Authority 
necessarily  •with  the  Pope — Public  Penance — Power  of  Dispensation — Scholasticism 
favourable  to  liberty — St  Thomas  Aquinas — Doctrine  of  the  Mediate  Character  of  the 

/  Divine  Eight  of  Kings — The  Reformation  produces  a  Variety  of  Interests,  and  there 
fore  of  Political  Opinions — The  Papal  Party  insists  on  the  Right  of  Deposition- 
Works  of  Bellarmine  and  Suarez  burnt  at  Paris — The  Jesuits  proclaim  the  Social 

<^  Contract — Suarez  de  Fide — Mariana  de  Rege — Tyrannicide  fascinates  an  Early  Civili- 
sation— Its  Importance  in  the  History  of  Liberal  Opinions — First  maintained  unequiv- 
ocally by  Jean  Petit — Advocated  by  Greviu,  Toletus,  Sa,  Molina,  Ayala,  and  Kelle- 
rus — Murder  of  Henry  III.  eulogised  in  the  League  and  by  the  Pope — Political  Assas- 
sination approved  among  Protestants — But  the  Jesuits  were  its  Special  Advocates- 
Great  Services  of  the  Jesuits  to  Liberalism — Gallium  Church  represented  Despotic 
Interests — Reasons  of  this — Circumstances  that  made  Patriotism  in  France  antago- 
nistic to  Liberty — Slight  3uctuation  produced  by  the  Attitude  of  the  Protestants  in 
1615 — Resolutions  of  1665  and  16S2 — Bossuet — Protestantism  being  a  Rebellion  waa 

f  favourable  to  Democracy— The  two  compensatory  parts  of  Primitive  Church  Govern- 
ment revived  but  dissevered — Different  Political  Tendencies  of  Episcopalianism  and 
Presbyterianism— Different  Political  Tendencies  resulting  from  the  Relative  Positions 
assigned  to  the  Old  and  New  Testaments — Opinions  of  Huss  and  Wycliffe  and  of 
the  Leaders  of  the  Reformation — The  Scotch  lead  the  van  of  Protestant  Liberalism — 
Knox — Buchanan — The  Scotch  Deputation  to  Elizabeth — English  Dissenters  assimi- 
lated with  the  Scotch— Debt  England  owes  to  the  Non-Episcopal  Churches — Extreme 
servility  of  Anglicanism — The  Homilies — Taylor — Anglicanism  supported  every  Re- 
action— Exceptional  Position  of  Hooker — Two  Schools  of  Despotism  in  England— 
Barc.ay,  Filmer,  Hofcbes — Sidney,  Locke — Parallel  between  the  History  of  Religious 
and  of  Political  Liberty  in  England — Greatest  English  Freethinkers  inimical  to  Lib- 
erty—Hobbes,  Bolingbroke,  Hume— Difference  between  the  Growth  of  English  and 
French  Liberty  analogous  to  that  between  English  and  French  tolerance — French 
Protestants — Circumstances  that  diminished  thuir  Influence — Sectarianism  incom- 
patible with  Patriotism — Two  currents  of  Opinion  among  the  French  Protestants— 
The  Liberal  Opinion  dominated— The  'Franco-Gallia1  of  Hotman— The  '  Yindicta 
contra  Tyrannos '—Montaigne  notices  the  Subordination  of  Opinions  to  Interests  ii 


0  CONTENTS   OF 

France — Revival  of  Classical  Writings  acted  on  Liberty- -In  the  first  place,  by  th« 
renewed  Study  of  Roman  Law — Opinions  of  Bodin,  Gronovius,  Noodt,  etc. — Phases 
of  Jurisprudence — Principal  effect  of  the  Classics  in  altering  the  Type  of  Heroism — 
Different  Types  resulting  from  the  Sense  of  Dignity  and  the  Sense  of  Sin — La  Boetia 
— Circumstances  that  prepared  the  Democracy  of  the  Eighteenth  Century :  First,  the 
Increase  of  Capital;  Second,  the  Increase  of  Knowledge — Servitude  and  Superstition 
the  necessary  lot  of  all  great  bodies  ol  men  before  Printing— Third,  Change  In  the 
Relative  Position  of  the  Cavalry  and  Infantry  in  War — The  English  Archers — Rise 
of  the  Flemish  Infantry— The  Italian  Condottieri — The  Invention  of  Gunpowder  and 
of  the  Bayonet — Fourth,  Influence  of  Political  Economy  on  Democracy — The  French 
Revolution  inevitable;  Importance  of  the  Question  into  whose  guidance  it  would 
fall — Reasons  why  Catholicism  was  incompetent  for  the  Task — Early  Freethinkers 
not  favourable  to  Political  Liberty — Opinions  of  Socinus,  Montaigne,  Charron,  and 
Bayle — Change  in  their  Attitude  in  the  Eighteenth  Century — Wide  Influence  of  the 
Revolution — Rousseau — His  Power  over  French  Society — Dress,  Theatre,  Gardens  — 
The  Stream  of  Self-Sacrifice  passing  from  Theology  to  Politics — The  Democratic 
Ideal  consists  of  Two  Parts— The  Doctrine  of  Nationalities — Theories  of  Interna 
tional  Arrangements,  of  Hildebrand,  Dante,  Grotius,  and  Diplomacy — Causes  that 
rendered  it  possible  in  the  Nineteenth  Century — Synthesis  of  the  Moral  Principles 
of  Christianity  and  Paganism — Democracy  an  Aspect  of  the  Christian  Spirit,  /^~ 

Page  100 

CHAPTER   VI. 
THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM. 

flic  Industrial  System  of  Antiquity  rested  upon  Slavery — Effects  of  this  Institution  on 
National  Character — Decline  of  Industry  in  Rome — Comparison  between  Ancient 
and  Modern  Slavery — Atrocious  Excesses  to  which  the  Empire  arrived — Christianity 
undertook  the  Abolition  of  Slavery — First  Movement  in  favour  of  the  Slaves  due  to 
Seneca  and  his  followers — Invasion  of  Barbarians  favourable  to  Slaves — But  Chris- 
tianity the  most  efficient  opponent  of  the  evil — Review  of  the  Measures  for  abolish- 
ing Slavery — And  for  alleviating  the  condition  of  those  who  still  continued  enslaved — 
Anglo-Saxon  measures — Services  of  the  Fathers  and  the  Benedictines  in  mak:ng  La- 
bour honourable — The  Ferocity  of  Manners  corrected  by  the  Creation  of  Charity — 
Long  period  that  elapsed  before  the  preeminent  services  of  Christianity  were  in  this 
respect  appreciated — Great  Development  of  Self-sacrifice — Deficiency  of  the  Indus- 
trial Theory  of  the  Church— Long  continuance  of  Serfdom —Emancipation  of  tne 
Towns  bci.'ins  Modern  Industrial  History — Effects  of  the  Crusades  on  Industry — Tu« 
System  of  Corporations  politically  useful  though  economically  bad — Points  of  Con- 
tact of  Industrial  and  Theological  Enterprises — First  ground  of  collision  was  Usury 
— Thi!  Principles  that  regulate  Interest  altogether  unknown  to  the  Ancients — Position 
of  Money-lenders  in  Greece  and  Gaul — And  in  the  Roman  Empire — The  Early  and 
Mediaeval  Church  condemned  all  Interest — On  the  twofold  ground  of  the  Law  of  Na- 
ture ind  of  Aut)  ority — Money -lending  lirst  monopolised  by  Jows — Rise  of  the  lit 


THE   SECOND   VOLUME.  9 

austral  Republics  of  Italy,  makes  it  popular  among  Christians — Council  of  the  Lat 
eran — Reformation  shakes  the  Old  Superstition — Saumaise — Change  in  the  meaning 
of  the  word  Usury  in  the  Sixteenth  Century — Casuistry  of  the  Jesuits — Decree  of 
Benedict  XIV. — Laws  upon  Usury  based  on  Theological  grounds,  disappear— Tha 
Economical  Question  discussed  by  Locke,  Adam  Smith,  Hume,  Turgot,  and  Bentham — 
The  Russian  Easkol  the  last  Representative  of  the  Ancient  Doctrine — Importance  of 
this  Controversy  in  producing  an  Antagonism  between  Industry  and  Theology — Com- 
merce produces  a  New  Principle  of  Federation— Foundation  of  Consulships — Organi- 
sation of  Diplomacy — Commerce  leads  to  Intercourse  with  Men  of  different  Religious, 
and  therefore  to  Tolerance— First  class  who  benefited  by  this  Tolerance,  the  Jews — 
Sketch  of  the  different  Persecutions  of  which  they  were  the  Object — Their  Services 
to  Literature — And  to  Commerce — Tolerated  at  Leghorn,  Venice,  Pisa,  and  Genoa — 
Industrial  Habits  of  Thought  make  Men  estimate  lowly  the  Influence  of  Dogma- 
Injury  Persecution  has  done  to  Industry— Spain,  France,  Bruges,  and  Amsterdam- 
Decline  of  the  Ideal  of  Poverty  produced  by  the  Industrial  Civilisation — Luxury  of 
the  Thirteenth  and  Fourteenth  Centuries — Sumptuary  Laws — Influence  of  the  Black 
Death — Economical  effects  of  Luxury— It  is  substituted  for  Monasticism  r.s  a  Check 
tipon  Population — Its  Influence  on  Intellectual  Development — Decadence  of  Monastic 
Spirit — Alliance  of  the  Clergy  with  the  Aristocracy — Increase  of  Commerce — The 
Navigation  Laws — First  Mercantile  Societies  in  England — Wealth  of  Belgium — Rapid 
growth  of  Diplomacy — The  Han seatic  League  represses  Piracy — The  Venetians  found 
Political  Economy,  and  the  Medici  give  an  Intellectual  Ascendency  to  Industry — 
Manner  In  which  all  this  combined  with  the  Revival  of  Classic  Learning — And  with 
the  Influence  of  Moorish  Civilisation — Change  of  Tastes  resulting  from  increased 
Wealth  revives  the  Theatre — Importance  of  this  Amusement  as  an  Intellectual  In- 
fluence— And  as  an  Index  of  the  Condition  of  Civilisation — Its  great  Corruption  in 
Pagan  Rome — Denounced  by  the  Fathers — The  Last  Refuge  of  Paganism — Not  en- 
couraged by  Julian — Disappeared  with  the  Dissolution  of  the  Roman  Civilisation — 
New  Types  of  Amusement — The  'Histriones1  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas — Rise  of  the 
Religious  Plays — Hroswitha — The  Religious  Plays  pass  from  the  Churches  to  the 
Theatres — Their  Immorality — Position  assigned  to  Satan — Effect  in  bringing  the 
Church  into  Contempt — Faint  Signs  of  Secular  Plays — Impromptus — Pantomimes, 
etc, — The  Farces — The  higher  Drama  reappears  in  Italy — First  Plays — Examples  of 
its  encouragement  by  Ecclesiastics — Contrast  between  the  Italian  and  French  Drama 
in  their  Relation  to  the  Church — The  Secularisation  of  Music,  its  successive  stages- 
Influence  of  Gothic  Architecture  upon  the  Stuge — The  Religious  Struggle  produces  a 
Revulsion  in  the  Sentiments  with  which  the  Theatre  was  regarded — Fierce  Opposition 
In  France — Sacraments  denied  to  Actors — Moliere,  Racine,  Lully,  Huerne  de  U 
Wi»cho— Advance  of  Theatre  in  France,  Spain,  and  Italy— Voltaire— The  Revolution 
removes  Disqualifications  from  Actors— Triumph  of  the  Theatre  at  Rome— Impor- 
tant effects  of  this  Contest — The  Creation  of  the  Thccitre  the  last  Service  of  the  In- 
dustrial Civilisation  of  Italy— The  Reformation— Importance  of  the  Question  M 
which  Religion  the  Sceptre  of  Industry  would  fall— It  seemed  at  first  in  the  grasp  of 


10          CONTENTS  OF  THE  SECOND  VOLUME 

Spain — Magnificent  Position  of  Spain  under  Charles  V. — The  Economical  Error  that 
Gold  alone  is  Wealth — The  Italians  in  a  great  measure  escaped  this — First  conse- 
quence of  this  error  in  Spain,  was  that  Manufactures  were  neglected,  and  all  the  na- 
tional energies  were  concentrated  upon  th*.  Gold  Mines— Second  consequence,  that 
the  Colonies  were  ruined  by  Restrictive  Laws — Third  consequence,  a  Convulsion  of 
Prices  resulting  indeed  fr«m  the  Excessive  Supply  of  Gold,  but  aggravated  by  Lawi 
prohibiting  its  Export — These  Economical  Causes  aggravated  by  the  vast  Develop- 
ment of  the  Monastic  System — Its  Incompatibility  with  Industry — And  by  the  Revi- 
val of  Slavery — Las  Casas — And  by  four  great  acts  of  Religious  Intolerance — The 
Downfall  of  Spain  an  almost  unmingled  Benefit  to  Mankind — Introduction  of  Hot 
Drinks  into  Europe,  their  Moral  and  Social  Effects — On  the  Downfall  of  Spain  the 
Sceptre  of  Industry  passes  to  Protestantism,  but  the  Influence  of  the  two  Religions 
ceased  to  be  involved  in  the  Contest — Antagonism  of  Intellectual  Tendency  between 
Town  and  Country — Changes  that  have  been  effected  in  their  Relative  Importance— 
Medioaval  preference  for  Agriculture — Schoo.  of  Sully — Superseded  by  the  Mercan- 
tile Theory  which  was  more  favourable  to  Manufactures — Colbert — The  School  of 
Quesnay  which  followed  was  theoretically  extremely  unfavourable  to  Manufactures, 
but  practically  favourable  to  it — Modification  of  this  School  by  Eaynal — Adam  Smith 
proves  Manufactures  to  be  a  Source  of  Wealth — But  maintains  tho  superior  Produc- 
tivity of  Agriculture — Refuted  on  this  last  point  by  Ricardo — Movement  in  favour 
of  Manufactures  stimulated  by  the  Invention  of  Credit — And  by  the  Development 
of  Machinery — -Economical  effects  of  Machines — Special  Force  of  their  Influence  in 
England — The  Intellectual  Expression  of  an  Industrial  Civilisation  is  Political  Econ- 
omy— Its  Pacific  Influence — Theological  Agencies  not  pacific — And  Philosophical 
ones  inefficient — Effects  of  Political  Economy  in  uniting  different  Countries — And 
different  Classes — Effects  of  the  Principle  of  Interest  upon  the  Affections — The  Phi- 
losophy of  Mortification  and  the  Philosophy  of  Development  represented  respectively 
by  Asceticism  and  Industrialism — Asceticism  supreme  till  tho  Fourteenth  Century — 
Tho  History  of  Monasteries  shows  its  steady  Decline — Position  assigned  by  Industrial- 
ism to  Wealth — the  Destruction  of  Asceticism  among  the  Ancient  Greeks  due  to  Art; 
among  the  Moderns,  to  Industry — Intellectual  Influences  favourable  to  Industrialism 
— Utilitarianism  the  Philosophical  Expression  of  Industrialism — Evils  resulting 
from  this  Philosophy — Decline  of  the  Spirit  of  Self-Sacrifice — Tendency  to  Material- 
ism— Conclusion,  ........  Pnge  222 


RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 


CHxlPTER   IT. 

(continued}. 
ON    PERSECUTION. 


PART  II. 
THE  HISTORY  OF  PERSECUTION. 

THE  considerations  I  have  adduced  in  the  first  part  of 
this  chapter  will  be  sufficient  to  show  how  injurious  have 
been  the  effects  of  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation.  We 
have  still,  however,  one  consequence  to  examine,  before  which 
all  others  fade  into  insignificance.  I  mean,  of  course,  re- 
ligious persecution.  This,  which  is  perhaps  the  most  fearful 
of  all  the  evils  that  men  have  inflicted  upon  their  fellows,  is 
the  direct  practical  result  of  the  principles  we  have  hitherto 
considered  in  their  speculative  aspect.  If  men  believe  with 
an  intense  and  realising  faith  that  their  own  view  of  a  dis- 
puted question  is  true  beyond  all  possibility  of  mistake,  if 
they  further  believe  that  those  who  adopt  other  views  will 
be  doomed  by  the  Almighty  to  an  eternity  of  misery  which, 
with  the  same  moral  disposition  but  with  a  different  belief, 
they  would  have  escaped,  these  men  will,  sooner  or  later 


12  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

persecute  to  the  full  extent  of  their  power.  If  you  speak  to 
them  of  the  physical  and  mental  suffering  which  persecution 
produces,  or  of  the  sincerity  and  unselfish  heroism  of  ita 
victims,  they  will  reply  that  such  arguments  rest  altogether 
on  the  inadequacy  of  your  realisation  of  the  doctrine  they 
believe.  What  suffering  that  man  can  inflict  can  be  compar- 
able  to  the  eternal  misery  of  all  who  embrace  the  doctrine  of 
the  heretic  ?  What  claim  can  human  virtues  have  to  our  for- 
bearance, if  the  Almighty  punishes  the  mere  profession  of 
error  as  a  crime  of  the  deepest  turpitude  ?  If  you  encoun- 
tered a  lunatic  who,  in  his  frenzy,  was  inflicting  on  multi- 
tudes around  him  a  death  of  the  most  prolonged  and  ex- 
cruciating agony,  would  you  not  feel  justified  in  arresting 
his  career  by  every  means  in  your  power — by  taking  his  life 
if  you  could  not  otherwise  attain  your  object  ?  But  if  you 
knew  that  this  man  was  inflicting  Tiot  temporal  but  eternal 
death,  if  he  was  not  a  guiltless  though  dangerous  madman, 
but  one  whose  conduct  you  believed  to  involve  the  most 
heinous  criminality,  would  you  not  act  with  still  less  com 
punction  or  hesitation?1  Arguments  from  expediency, 
though  they  may  induce  men  under  some  special  circum- 
stances to  refrain  from  persecuting,  will  never  make  them 
adopt  the  principle  of  toleration.  In  the  first  place,  those 
who  believe  that  the  religious  service  of  the  heretic  is  an  act 
positively  offensive  to  the  Deity,  will  always  feel  disposed  to 
put  down  that  act  if  it  is  in  their  power,  even  though  they 
cannot  change  the  mental  disposition  from  which  it  springs. 
In  the  next  place,  they  will  soon  perceive  that  the  interven- 

1  As  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  says,  '  Si  falsarii  pccuninc  vol  alii  malefactorea 
statira  per  secularea  principes  juste  morti  traduntur,  multo  magis  ha?retici 
statim,  ex  quo  cle  haoresi  convincuntur,  po^sunt  non  solum  excommunicari  sed 
rt  juste  oeeidi.'  (8ii»i»ia,  par:-  ii.  411.  si.  art.  iii.) 


ON   PERSECUTION.  13 

tion  of  the  civil  ruler  can  exercise  almost  as  much  influence 
upon  belief  as  upon  profession.  For  although  there  is  indeed 
a  certain  order  and  sequence  in  the  history  of  opinions,  as  in 
the  phases  of  civilisation  it  reflects,  which  cannot  be  alto- 
gether destroyed,  it  is  not  the  less  true  that  man  can  greatly 
accelerate,  retard,  or  modify  its  course.  The  opinions  of 
ninety-nine  persons  out  of  every  hundred  aiB  formed  mainly 
by  education,  and  a  Government  can  decide  in  whose  hands 
the  national  education  is  to  be  placed,  what  subjects  it  is 
to  comprise,  and  what  principles  it  is  to  convey.  The 
opinions  of  the  great  majority  of  those  who  emancipate 
themselves  from  the  prejudices  of  their  education  are  the  re- 
sults in  a  great  measure  of  reading  and  of  discussion,  and  a 
Government  can  prohibit  all  books  and  can  expel  all  teachers 
that  are  adverse  to  the  doctrines  it  holds.  Indeed,  the  sim- 
ple fact  of  annexing  certain  penalties  to  the  profession  of  par- 
ticular opinions,  and  rewards  to  the  profession  of  opposite 
opinions,  while  it  will  undoubtedly  make  many  hypocrites, 
will  also  make  many  converts.  For  any  one  who  attentive- 
ly observes  the  process  that  is  pursued  in  the  formation  of 
opinions  must  be  aware  that,  even  when  a  train  of  argument 
has  preceded  their  adoption,  they  are  usually  much  less  the 
result  of  pure  reasoning  than  of  the  action  of  innumerable 
distorting  influences  which  are  continually  deflecting  our 
judgments.  Among  these  one  of  the  most  poAverful  is  sell- 
interest.  When  a  man  desires  very  earnestly  to  embrace  a 
certain  class  of  doctrines,  either  in  order  to  join  a  particular 
profession,  or  to  please  his  friends,  or  to  acquire  peace  of 
mind,  or  to  rise  in  the  world,  or  to  gratify  his  passions,  or  to 
gain  that  intellectual  reputation  which  is  sometimes  con- 
nected with  the  profession  of  certain  opinions,  he  will  usual- 
ly attain  his  desire.  lie  may  pursue  his  enquiry  in  the  most 


14  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

conscientious  spirit.  He  may  be  firmly  resolved  to  make  any 
sacrifice  rather  than  profess  what  he  does  not  believe,  yet 
still  his  affections  will  endow  their  objects  with  a  magnetism 
of  which  he  is  perhaps  entirely  unconscious.  He  will  reason 
not  to  ascertain  what  is  true,  but  to  ascertain  whether  he 
can  conscientiously  affirm  certain  opinions  to  be  true.  lie 
will  insensibly  withdraw  his  attention  from  the  objections  on 
one  side,  and  will  concentrate  it  with  disproportionate  energy 
upon  the  other.  He  will  preface  every  conclusion  by  an  ar- 
gument, but  the  nature  of  that  argument  will  be  determined 
by  the  secret  bias  of  his  will.  If,  then,  a  Government  can 
act  upon  the  wishes  of  a  people,  it  can  exercise  a  considerable 
influence  upon  their  reason. 

Such  are  some  of  the  arguments  by  which  the  persecutor 
in  the  earlier  stages  of  Christian  history  might  have  defend- 
ed his  acts.  And  surely  the  experience  of  later  times  has 
fully  corroborated  his  view  by  showing  that,  in  the  great 
conflicts  between  argument  and  persecution,  the  latter  has 
been  continually  triumphant.  Persecution  extirpated  Chris- 
tianity from  Japan ;  it  crashed  the  fair  promise  of  the  Albi- 
genses  ;  it  rooted  out  every  vestige  of  Protestantism  from 
Spain.  France  is  still  ostensibly,  and  was  long  in  truth,  the 
leading  champion  of  Catholicity,  but  the  essential  Catholicity 
of  France  was  mainly  due  to  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
and  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Xantes.  England  is  just- 
ly esteemed  the  chief  pillar  of  Protestantism,  yet  the  English 
people  remained  long  poised  indecisively  between  the  two 
creeds  till  the  skilful  policy  and  the  coercive  laws  of  Eliza- 
beth determined  its  vacillations.  At  the  Reformation  al- 
most every  Government  prohibited  one  or  other  religion; 
and  whereas  the  members  of  the  State  religion  formed  at 
first  but  a  doubtful  ami  wavering  majority,  and  sometimes 


ON   PERSECUTION.  15 

not  even  a  majority,  a  few  generations  produced  substantial 
unanimity  ;  and  since  the  policy  of  coercion  has  been  general- 
ly abandoned,  and  the  freest  scope  been  given  for  discussion, 
the  relative  position  of  Protestants  and  Catholics  has  not 
been  perceptibly  changed. 

Before  such  broad  and  patent  facts  as  these,  the  few  ex- 
ceptions that  may  be  adduced  can  have  no  great  weight ;  and 
even  those  exceptions,  when  carefully  examined,  will  often 
be  found  far  less  real  than  is  supposed.  Thus,  for  example, 
the  case  of  Ireland  is  continually  cited.  The  Irish  Catholics, 
we  are  told,  were  subject  at  first  to  a  system  of  open  plunder, 
and  then  to  a  long  detailed  legal  persecution  J  which  was  de- 
signed to  make  them  abandon  their  faith.  All  the  paths  of 
honour  and  wealth  were  monopolised  by  Protestants,  while 
shackles  of  every  description  hampered  the  Catholics  in  all 
the  relations  of  life.  Yet  these  only  clung  the  closer  to  their 
faith  on  account  of  the  storms  that  assailed  it.  That  very 
acute  observer,  Arthur  Young,  declared  at  the  close  of  the 
penal  laws,  that  the  relative  proportion  of  Catholics  to  Prot- 
estants had  not  been  at  all  reduced — if  anything  rather  the 
reverse — and  that  those  who  denied  this  admitted  that,  at 
the  past  rate  of  conversions,  4,000  years  would  be  required  to 
make  Ireland  Protestant.  In  the  Irish  Parliament  it  was 
stated  that  71  years  of  the  penal  system  had  only  produced 
4,055  converts. 

This  statement  may  at  first  sight  appear  to  furnish  an 
extremely  strong  argument,  but  it  completely  omits  the 
most  important  element  of  Irish  ecclesiastical  history.  In 
Ireland  the  old  faith  marked  the  division  between  two 

1  For  their  details  see  Parnell,  Penal  Laws.  In  common  parlance,  the 
•penal  laws'  date  from  the  treaty  of  Limerick,  but  the  legislative  assaults  on 
Irish  Catholicism  be'ran  with  Elizabeth. 


16  RATIONALISM   TN   EDKOPE. 

races,  it  was  the  symbol  of  the  national  spirit,  it  was  uphold 
by  all  the  passions  of  a  great  patriotic  struggle,  and  its  con 
tinuance  simply  attests  the  vitality  of  a  political  sentiment. 
^Yhen  every  other  northern  nation  abandoned  Catholicism, 
the  Irish  still  retained  it  out  of  antipathy  to  their  oppressors, 
and  in  every  great  insurrection  the  actuating  spirit  was 
mainly  political.  Of  all  the  outbreaks  against  the  English 
power,  that  of  .1640  was  probably  the  most  passionate  and 
most  vindictive.  In  that  rebellion  one  Englishman  of  dis- 
tinction was  exempt  from  the  hostility  that  attached  to  his 
race.  He  was  treated  with  the  most  respectful  and  even  af- 
fectionate deference,  and  when  he  died,  he  was  borne  to  the 
grave  with  all  the  honours  the  rebel  army  could  afford. 
That  Englishman  was  Bishop  Bedell,  the  counsellor  of  Sarpi 
and  of  De  Dominis,  and  the  founder  of  proselytism  in  Ire- 
land.1 

Such  was  the  spirit  that  was  displayed  by  the  Irish  Catho- 
lics in  the  midst  of  one  of  their  most  ferocious  outbreaks ; 
and  surely  no  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  history  of  Ire- 
land since  the  Union  will  imagine  that  the  repeal  of  the  per- 
secuting code  has  in  any  degree  mitigated  their  zeal.  While 
their  influence  in  the  State  has  been  immeasurably  augmented, 
while  their  number  has  increased  with  a  rapidity  that  was 
only  broken  by  the  frightful  famine  and  emigration  that 
more  than  decimated  their  ranks,  the  sectarian  spirit  that 
actuates  them  has  become  continually  more  conspicuous.  It 

1  The  very  curious  life  of  Bedell,  by  his.  son-in-law,  Alexander  Clogy,  which 
wn  written  iu  IC-ll-'ii,  and  which  formed  the  basis  of  the  narrative  of  Bui-net, 
was  printed  from  the  M^S.  in  the  British  Museum  in  1862.  We  have  ail  amus- 
ing instance  of  the  uncompromising  Protestantism  of  Bedell  in  the  fact  that  when 
the  insurgents  who  retained  him  prisoner  gave  him  permission  to  perform  the 
Anglican  service  freely  with  his  friends,  he  availed  himself  of  that  permission 
to  celebrate  the  thanksgiving  for  the  3th  of  November. 


ON   PERSECUTION.  17 

may  indeed  be  truly  said  that  Ireland  is  now  the  only 
civilised  country  where  public  opinion  is  governed,  not 
occasionally  but  habitually,  by  theological  considerations, 
where  the  most  momentous  secular  interests  are  continually 
subordinated  to  the  conflicts  of  rival  clergy,  and  where  there 
is  scarcely  a  chord  of  purely  patriotic  feeling  that  vibrates  in 
the  national  breast.  The  causes  of  this  deplorable  condition 
J  have  not  now  to  investigate.1  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it 
exists  in  spite  of  the  abrogation  of  the  persecuting  laws.  If 
there  was  one  secular  question  which  the  Irish  Catholics 
pursued  with  an  intense  and  genuine  ardour,  it  was  the 
struggle  for  the  repeal  of  the  Union.  .  For  a  long  series  of 
years  they  maintained  that  struggle  with  a  combination  of 
enthusiasm,  of  perseverance,  and  of  self-sacrifice,  such  as  has 
been  seldom  evinced  in  a  political  contest ;  and  they  invaria- 
bly based  their  claim  on  the  broad  principle  that  the  form  of 
government  in  any  country  should  be  determined  by  the 
majority  of  its  inhabitants.  But  no  sooner  had  that  princi- 
ple come  into  collision  with  the  Church,  no  sooner  had  its 
triumph  menaced  the  security  of  the  Vatican,  and  wrested 
two  provinces  from  the  Pope,  than  all  this  was  changed. 
The  teaching  of  Davis  and  of  O'Connell  was  at  once  for- 
gotten. The  bond  that  had  so  long  connected  the  Irish 
Catholics  with  liberalism  was  broken,  and  the  whole  party 
pressed  forward,  with  an  alacrity  that  would  be  ludicrous  if 
it  were  not  pitiable,  to  unite  themselves  with  the  most  retro- 
gressive  politicians  in  Europe,  and  to  discard  and  trample 
on  the  principles  they  had  so  long  and  so  enthusiastically 
maintained. 

These  considerations  show  that  the  intense  energy  of  Irish 

1  I  have  endeavoured  to  trace  them  in  a  book  called  The  L<<t<lers  <>f  Pub 
lie  Opinion  in  Ireland. 


L8  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

Catholicism  cannot  IDC  altogether  attributed  to  religious  perse- 
cution. Much  the  same  qu  ilification  may  be  applied  to  the  case 
of  the  English  dissenters.  The  Anglican  Church,  it  is  some- 
times said,  persecuted  with  great  cruelty  those  who  separated 
from  her  ecclesiastical  government ;  yet,  nevertheless,  the 
dissenters  became  so  powerful  that  they  shattered  both  the 
Church  and  the  Crown,  and  brought  the  king  and  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  to  the  scaffold.  But  this  is  a  palpable 
misrepresentation.  The  extreme  servility  which  the  English 
Church  manifested  to  the  most  tyrannical  of  sovereigns,  and 
the  bitter  persecution  it  directed  against  all  adverse  com- 
munions, had  together  made  Puritanism  the  representative 
and  the  symbol  of  democracy.  The  rebellion  was  simply  the 
outburst  of  political  liberalism,  intensified,  indeed,  but  by  no 
means  created,  by  the  exasperation  of  the  dissenters.  It 
represented  the  hatred  of  political  tyranny  much  more  than 
the  hatred  of  episcopacy.  After  two  or  three  fluctuations,  a 
period  arrived  when  the  Church  of  England  was  greatly 
depressed,  and  the  Toleration  Act  was  passed,  which,  though 
very  defective  in  theory,  accorded  a  large  measure  of  practi- 
cal liberty  to  all  classes  of  dissenters.  Those  who  maintain 
that  persecution  can  only  strengthen  the  system  against 
which  it  is  directed,  might  have  expected  that  this  act  would 
have  produced  a  diminution  of  dissent,  or,  at  least,  a  relaxa- 
tion of  its  principles.  But  the  result  was  precisely  opposite. 
About  the  time  when  the  act  was  passed,  the  dissenters  were 
estimated  at,  rather  more  than  one  twenty-third  of  the  popu- 
lation of  England  ;  less  than  a  century  after  they  were  esti- 
mated at  oiu'-fiiurth.1  In  zeal  the  Methodists  will  bear  com- 
parison with  the  Puritans,  and  if  the  animosity  between 
Anglicans  and  dissenters  is  mitigated,  this  has  not  been 

1  Sec  a  note  in  Buckle,  Ilintnri/  <~>f  Civilisation,  vol.  i.  p.  385 


ON   PERSECUTION.  19 

because  dissent  has  been  attracted  to  the  Church,  but 
because  the  Church  has  been  penetrated  by  the  doctrines  of 
dissent. 

The  foregoing  arguments  appear  to  me  to  prove,  not, 
indeed,  that  persecution  is  a  good  thing,  or  even  that  it  can 
invariably  effect  the  object  for  which  it  is  employed,  but  that 
it  has,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  exercised  an  enormous  influence  over 
the  belief  of  mankind.  The  two  main  causes  of  theological 
changes  seem  to  be  the  appearance  from  time  to  time  of  great 
religious  teachers,  and  the  succession  of  the  phases  of  civili- 
sation. The  first  cast  abroad  the  seeds  of  religious  truth  ; 
the  second  provide  the  different  atmospheres  by  which  those 
seeds  are  in  turn  developed.  But,  while  this  law  is  producing 
a  continual  modification  of  opinions,  which  is  more  or  less 
felt  through  the  entire  community,  it  leaves  free  scope  for 
the  operation  of  many  minor  influences,  which  cause  in  the 
same  period  a  considerable  diversity  of  realised  belief,  and  a 
still  greater  diversity  of  profession.  Of  these  influences,  the 
intervention  of  government  is  probably  the  most  powerful. 
It  is  certainly  far  more  powerful  than  any  direct  polemical 
discussion.  Millions  of  devoted  Catholics  and  millions  of 
devoted  Protestants  would,  at  the  present  hour,  repudiate 
indignantly  their  present  belief  but  for  the  coercive  enact- 
ments of  former  rulers ;  and  there  is  scarcely  a  country  in 
which  the  prevailing  faith  is  not  in  some  degree  clue  to 
bygone  legislation.  But  whether  or  not  this  be  true  is,  in 
reality,  immaterial  to  my  argument  ;  for,  however  strongly 
the  reader  may  deny  the  efficacy  of  persecution  upon  belief, 
it  is  certain  that  until  lately  it  was  deemed  indisputable.  It 
Is  also  certain  that,  in  ages  when  the  doctrine  of  exclusive 
salvation  is  fully  realised,  the  spirit  of  faith  will  be  so  exalted 
that  the  ruler  will  never  question  for  a  moment  the  justice 


20  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOPE. 

of  his  belief.  Now,  when  men  are  firmly  convinced  that  the 
highest  of  all  possible  objects  is  to  promote  the  interests  of 
their  faith,  and  that  by  the  employment  of  force  they  can 
most  fully  attain  that  object,  their  persecution  will  be 
measured  by  their  power  and  their  zeal.1 

These  are  the  general  logical  antecedents  of  persecution, 
and  they  are  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  all  its  atrocities, 
Avithout  imputing  any  sordid  motives  to  the  persecutor. 
There  is,  however,  one  other  consideration  that  exercised  a 
very  important  influence  in  the  same  direction — I  mean  the 
example  of  the  Jewish  legislators.  TVhen  we  now  read  of 
such  scenes  as  the  massacres  of  Canaan,  the  slaughter  of  the 
priests  of  Baal,  or  the  forcible  reforms  of  Josiah,  they  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  present  themselves  to  the  mind  as  having 
any  very  definite  application  to  the  present.  Those  who  do 
not  regard  them  as  the  natural  products  of  an  imperfect  civ- 
ilisation, regard  them  at  least  as  belonging  to  a  dispensation 
so  entirely  exceptional  as  to  be  removed  altogether  from  the 
ordinary  conditions  of  society.  But  in  the  early  Church, 
and  in  the  sixteenth  century,  they  were  looked  upon  in  a 
very  different  light.  The  7'elations  of  an  established  religion 

v  ~ 

to  the  State  were  mainly  derived  from  the  Old  Testament. 
The  Jewish  was  deemed  a  type  of  the  Christian  Church,  and 
the  policy  that  was  commended  in  the  one  was  regarded  as 
at  l°ast  not  blamable  in  the  other.  Xow  the  Levitical  code 
was  the  first  code  of  religious  persecution  that  had  ever 
appeared  among  mankind.  It  pronounced  idolatry  to  be  not 

•  This  was  the  opinion  expressed  by  Charles  James  Fox.  'The  only 
foundation  for  toleration,'  he  said,  'is  a  decree  of  scepticism,  and  without  it 
there  can  be  none.  For  if  a.  man  believe?  in  the  saving  of  souls,  he  must  soon 
think  about  the  means;  and  if  by  cutting  off  one  generation  he  can  save  man} 
future,  ones  from  hell  fire,  it  is  his  dutv  to  do  it.'  (Rogers,  Rcc'Alccticns^ 
0.  40.) 


ON   PERSECUTION.  21 

simply  an  error,  but  a  crime,  and  a  crime  that  must  be 
expiated  with  blood.1 

The  opinions  of  the  Fathers  on  the  subject  were  divided. 
Those  who  wrote  when  a  pagan  or  heretical  power  was  su- 
preme were  the  champions  of  toleration.  Those  who  wrote 
when  the  Church  was  in  the  ascendency  usually  inclined  to 
persecution.  Tertullian  during  the  pagan,2  and  Hilary  of 
Poitiers  during  the  Arian"  persecution,  were  the  most  con- 
spicuous advocates  of  the  duty  of  absolute  and  complete  tol- 
eration ;  and  several  passages  tending,  though  less  strongly, 
in  the  same  direction,  emanated  from  other  Fathers  durino- 

'  O 

seasons  of  adversity.4  It  should,  however,  be  mentioned  that 
Lactantius,  in  the  reign  of  Constantine,  asserted  the  iniquity 
of  persecution  quite  as  strongly  as  any  previous  writer,*  and 

1  On  the  influence  of  this  command  on  Christian  persecution,  see  Bayle, 
Contrains-les  d'cntrer,  pt.  ii.  ch.  iv.,  and  some  striking  remarks  in  Kenan,  Vie 
de  Jesus,  pp.  412,  413  ;  to  which  I  may  add  as  an  illustration  the  following 
passage  of  Simancas  : — '  IlEeretici  pertinaces  publice  in  conspectu  populi  com- 
burendi  sunt ;  et  id  fieri  solet  extra  portas  civitatis  :  quemadmodurn  olim,  in 
Deut.  cap.  xvii.,  idolatra  educebatur  ad  portas  civitatis,  et  lapidibus  obrue- 
batur.'  (De  Cathol.  Instil,  p.  375.)  Taylor,  in  noticing  this  argument,  finely 
says  that  Christ,  by  refusing  to  permit  his  apostles  to  call  down  fire  like  Elias 
on  the  misbeliver,  clearly  indicated  his  separation  from  the  intolerance  of 
Judaism.  {Liberty  of  Prophesying,  sec.  22.) 

*  Apol.  cap.  xxiv. 

s  Ad  Auxcntium. 

4  The  reader  may  find  a  full  statement  of  the  passages  from  the  Fathers 
favourable  to  toleration  in  Whitby,  On  IMU:S  against  Heretics  (1723,  published 
anonymously) ;  Taylor,  Liberty  of  Prophesying  ;  Bayle,  Contrains-lfs  d'cntrer; 
and  many  other  books.  The  other  side  of  the  question  lias  been  developed, 
among  other  writers,  by  Palmer,  On  the  Church  ;  Muz/arelli,  Simancas,  Parn- 
nio,  and  all  the  other  old  writers  on  the  Inquisition.  There  is,  I  think  an  im- 
partial view  of  the  whole  subject  in  Milmim,  Ilin'ory  of  Christianity,  !»ee, 
too,  Blackstoue's  Commentaries,  b.  iv.  ch.  iv. 

6  Inst.  lib.  v.  c.  xx.  Lactantius  embraced  Christianity  during  the  persecu- 
tion of  Diocletian,  but  it  appears  almost  certain  that  his  Institutions  were 
mainly  written,  or  at  least  published,  at  Trevcs  during  the  reign  of  Constan- 
tine, and  b  never  abandoned  the  tolerant  maxims  he  proclaimed.  This  waa 


22  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

also  that  the  later  Fathers,  while  defending  the  milder  forma 
of  coercion,  seldom  or  never  wished  death  to  be  the  penalty 
of  heresy.  In  this  respect  the  orthodox  seem  to  have  been 
for  a  time  honourably  distinguished  from  the  Arians.  On 
one  occasion  in  the  reign  of  the  Arian  emperor  Valens,  no 
ess  than  eighty  Catholic  ecclesiastics  were  imprisoned  in  a 
eihip  at  sea  and  treacherously  burnt.1 

Still,  from  the  very  moment  the  Church  obtained  civil 
power  under  Constantine,  the  general  principle  of.  coercion 
was  admitted  and  acted  on  both  against  the  Jews,  the  here- 
tics, and  the  pagans.  The  first  had  at  this  time  become  es- 
pecially obnoxious,  on  account  of  a  strong  Judaising  movo 
ment  which  had  produced  one  or  two  heresies  and  many 
apostasies,  and  they  were  also  accused  of  assailing  '  with 
stones  and  other  manifestations  of  rage'  those  who  aban- 
doned their  faith.  Constantine  provided  against  these  evils 
by  a  law,  in  which  he  condemned  to  the  flames  any  Jew  who 

especially  creditable  to  him,  as  lie  was  tutor  to  the  son  of  Constantine,  and 
consequently  singularly  tempted  to  avail  himself  of  the  arm  of  power.  Un- 
fortunately, this  very  eloquent  writer,  who  was  certainly  one  of  the  ablest  in 
the  early  Church,  possessed  comparatively  little  influence  on  account  of  his 
passion  for  paradox.  lie  maintained  that  no  Christian  might  engage  in  war- 
fare, or  execute  a  capital  sentence ;  he  was  one  of  the  strongest  assertors  of 
the  opinion  that  God  the  Father  had  a  figure  (a  controversy  raised  by  Origen), 
and  he  was  accused  of  denying  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  '  Lactan- 
tius,'  said  Jerome,  'quasi  quidam  fluvius  cloquentioe  Tulliance,  utinam  tarn 
nostra  confirmare  potuissct,  quam  facile  aliena  dcstruxit ! '  (Epist.  lib.  ii.  cpist. 
1-1).  The  works  of  Laetautius  were  condemned  by  a  council  presided  over  by 
Pope  Gelasius  in  the  Cth  century.  See  Alexandra,  Hist.  Ecclesiastica  (Paris 
1699),  torn.  iv.  pp.  100-103  ;  Ampere,  Hist.  Littcraire  de  la  France,  torn,  i 
pp.  218-223.  Rome  of  the  peculiar  notions  of  Lactantius  appeared  at  a  later 
period  among  the  Waldenses. 

1  Socrates,  lib.  iv.  c.  xvi.  The  Donatists  were  also  fierce  persecutors  and 
Ncstorius  showed  his  sentiments  clearly  enough  when  he  said  to  the  Emperor, 
'  Give  me  the  earth  purged  from  heretics,  and  I  will  give  you  heaven.'  The 
Spanish  Arians  seem  to  have  originated  the  intense  intolerance  that  has  been 
perpetuated  from  generation  to  generation  in  Spain. 


ON   PERSECUTION.  23 

threw  stones  at  a  Christian  convert,  and  at  the  same  time  ren- 
dered it  penal  for  any  Christian  to  become  a  Jew.1  Against 
the  Arian  and  Donatist  heretics  his  measures  were  more  en- 
ergetic. Their  churches  were  destroyed,  their  assemblies 
were  forbidden,  their  bishops  banished,  their  writings  burnt, 
and  all  who  concealed  those  writings  threatened  with  death. 
Some  of  the  Donatists  were  actually  condemned  to  death,  but 
the  sentence  was  remitted,  and  any  blood  that  was  at  this 
time  shed  seems  to  have  been  due  to  the  excessive  turbulence 
of  the  Circumcelliones,  a  sect  of  Donatists  whose  principles 
and  acts  appear  to  have  been  perfectly  incompatible  with  the 
tranquillity  of  the  State.3 

The  policy  of  Constantino  towards  the  pagans  is  involved 
in  considerable  obscurity,  and  I  have  already  in  a  former 
chapter  sketched  its  principal  features.  During  the  first  years 
of  his  reign,  while  the  ascendency  of  Christianity  was  very 
doubtful,  and  while  the  pagan  Licinius  was  still  his  colleague 
in  the  empire,  he  showed  marked  tolerance  towards  the  ad- 
herents of  the  old  superstitions ;  and  when  his  law  against 
private  or  magical  sacrifices  had  created  a  considerable  panic 
among  them,  he  endeavoured  to  remove  the  impression  by  a 

1  Cod.  Tlieod,  lib.  xvi.  tit.  8,  The  apostate  '  sustinebit  meritag  pcena?.' 
Constantius  afterwards  made  the  penalty  confiscation  of  goods.  A  Jew  who 
married  a  Christian  incurred  the  penalty  of  death.  See,  on  this  department 
of  legislation,  Bedarride,  Hist,  des  Juifs,  pp.  IG-2'X 

8  Milman,  History  of  Christianity,  vol.  ii.  pp.  372-3T5.  See  also  the  re- 
view of  these  measures  in  Palmer,  On  the  Chnrch,  vol.  ii.  p.  23i).  The  Avians 
had  to  pay  ten  times  the  taxes  of  the  orthodox.  The  first  law  that  has  come 
down  to  us,  in  which  the  penalty  of  death  is  annexed  to  the  simple  profession 
of  a  heresy,  is  law  9  Do  Ifweticis  in  the  Theodosian  Code.  It  was  made  by 
Theodosius  the  Great,  and  was  applicable  only  to  some  sects  of  Manichoeans. 
It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  this  is  also  the  first  law  in  which  we  meet  the  title 
of  'Inquisitors  of  the  Faith.'  Optatus  in  the  reign  of  Constantino  advocated 
the  massacre  of  the  Douatists  on  the  ground  of  the  Old  Testament  precedents 
(see  Milmau). 


2i  RATIONALISM    IN    EUEOPE. 

proclamation  in  which  he  authorised  in  the  most  express 
terms  the  worship  in  the  temples.1  Besides  this,  he  still  re- 
tained the  old  imperial  title  of  Pontifex  Maximus,"  and  does 
not  appear  to  have  altogether  discarded  the  functions  it  im- 
plied. As,  however,  his  position  became  more  strong,  and 
especially  after  the  defeat  of  Licinius  in  324,  he  gradually 
changed  his  policy.  By  forbidding  the  prefects  and  govern- 
ors to  pay  any  respect  to  the  idols,  he  placed  the  govern- 
ment of  the  provinces  in  Christian  hands.'  About  330,  ho 
went  still  further,  and  if  we  believe  the  unanimous  testimony 
of  the  ecclesiastical  historians,  he  prohibited  the  temple  wor- 
ship. This  enactment  has  not  come  down  to  us,  but  the  pro- 
hibition is  expressly  and  unequivocally  asserted  by  both  Eu- 
sebius,  Sozomen,  and  Theodoret/  and  Libanius  tells  us  that 
the  penalty  of  holding  converse  with  the  old  gods  was  death.0 
Eusebius  notices  some  temples  that  were  at  this  time  closed, 
and  speaks  of  similar  measures  as  being  very  common ;  but. 
at  the  same  time,  we  have  decisive  evidence  that  the  pagan 

1  '  Additc  aras  publicas  atque  delubra,  et  cousuetudinis  vestne  celebrate 
soleinnia :  nee  enim  prohibemus  preterites  usurpationis  officia  libera  luce  trar 
tad.7 — Cod.  Th.  lib.  L\.  tit.  16.  cc.  i.  ii. 

3  The  first  emperor  who  refused  it  was  Gratian  (Zosimu=,  book  iv.). 

3  Eusebius,  Vila  Const,  lib.  ii.  c.  xliv.  xlv. 

4  See  Eusebius,  Vita  Const,  lib.  ii.  c.  xhv.  xlv.,  lib.  iv.  c.  xxiii.;  Theodoret, 
lib.  vi.  c.  xxi. ;  Sozomen,  lib.  iii.  c.  xvii.     Eusebius  repeats  this  assertion  over 
and  over  again  ;  see  Mihnan,  History  of  Christianity,  vol.  ii.  pp.  4GO-464  (ed, 
18-10). 

*  Spt/ukina  of  his  youth,  Libaniu.?  says  :  '  Plus  apud  l)eos  quam  apuQ 
homines  in  terra  convrcsabatur,  tametsi  lex  prohiberet,  quam  audenti  viola  re 
'•aphis  ptt-na  f'uit.  Veruiataiueii  cum  illis  ipsis  vitarn  agens  et  iniquam  legcrn 
et  impiuni  Iciri-latorem  deddebaf.'  (Dc  Vita  sua,  Libanii  Opera  [ed.  1627], 
vol.  ii.  p.  11. )  However  in  his  oration  Pro  Tcmplis,  Libanius  says  distinctly 
that  Con.-tant'me  did  not  disturb  the  worship  of  the  temples.  It  is  hard  to  re- 
concile these  two  passac^s  and  the  last  with  the  statements  of  Eusebius,  but  1 
suppose  the  'act  i>  that  ftie  law  was  made,  but  was  generally  suffered  to  be 
ihopeiutivt 


ON    PERSECUTION.  25 

worship  was  connived  at  in  many  and  probably  most  parts 
of  the  empire,  that  temples  were  dedicated,  and  the  cererno 
nies  performed  without  molestation  or  concealment.1  It  is 
only  by  taking  into  account  the  extreme  laxity  of  the  admin- 
istration of  law  at  this  period  of  Roman  history,  that  we 
ran  estimate  aright  the  position  of  the  pagans.  The  govern- 
ment was  strongly  hostile  to  their  faith,  but  was  as  yet  re- 
strained by  their  numbers;  the  habitual  policy  was  therefore 
gradually  to  destroy  their  political  importance,  and  by  laws 
directed  ostensibly  against  magic  to  suppress  those  portions 
of  worship  which  were  not  indeed  the  essentials,  but'formed 
what  may  be  called  the  religions  luxuries  of  paganism. 
Other  and  more  stringent  laws  were  made,  but  they  were 
generally  in  abeyance,  or  at  least  their  execution  depended 
upon  political  circumstances,  or  upon  the  disposition  of  the 
governors.  Constantius  made  laws  distinctly  prohibiting 
every  form  of  pagan  worship,3  but  yet  there  is  no  fact  more 
certain  than  that  this  worship  continued  till  the  period  of 
Theodosius.1 

1  See  a  groat  deal  of  evidence  of  this  in  Bcugnot,  Decadence  du  Pobi- 
tJiKisme.  But  it  is  absurd  to  speak  of  Constantino,  as  M.  Bcugnot  does,  as  an 
apostle  of  tolerance.  '  Connivance,'  as  Burke  onee  said,  '  is  the  relaxation  of 
tyranny,  and  not  the  definition  of  liberty.'  One  of  Constantino's  proclama- 
tions of  tolerance  seems  to  have  been  posterior  to  the  prohibition  of  public 
sacrifices. 

1  Cod.  Tit.  xvi.  10,  2— i.  The  terms  of  one  of  these  laws  seem  to  imply 
that  Constantino  bad  made  a  similar  enactment:  '  Cos-et  .-upersthio  :  sacrili- 
ciorum  aboleatur  insania.  Xam  quicunque  cnntr<i  Ivjc.ni  ilivi  Pri/icipis  Pure/>- 
lis  uostri,  et  bane  nostrre  mansuetudinis  jussionem,  ausus  fuerit  sacrilim 
rel  c-brarc,  coinpetens  in  cum  vindicta  et  pr;c<ens  sententia  eseratur.'  For  a 
full  discussion  of  this  very  perplexing  subject,  see  Milman,  If  1st.  <>f  <'hrix'.''<in- 
ity,  and  Gibbon,  ch.  xxi. 

3  Thus,  for  example,  the  pagan  Zo-imus  tells  us  expressly  that  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reign  of  Theodosius  his  coreligionists  were  still  at  liberty  to  w.>r 
hip  in  the  temples.  The  history  is  in  a  great  measure  a  repetition  of  th  U  of 
the  persecution  -which  the  Christians  had  themselves  endured,  (ieni.-rally  thej 

1'J 


26  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  in  detail  the  persecutiug 
laws  of  the  first  century  of  the  Church's  power,  and  indeed 
such  a  task  would  be  intolerably  tedious  on  account  of  the 
activity  that  was  displayed  in  this  department  of  legislation. 
The  Theodosian  Code,  which  was  compiled  under  Theodo 
sius  the  younger,  contains  no  less  than  sixty-six  enactments 
against  heretics,  besides  many  others  against  pagans,  Jews, 
apostates,  and  magicians.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  at  first 
the  Arian  measures  seem  to  have  been  rather  more  severe 
than  the  Catholic  ones,  but  that  the  scope  of  the  latter  was 
steadily  enlarged,  and  their  severity  increased,  till  they  reached 
a  point  that  has  seldom  been  surpassed.  First  the  pagans 
were  deprived  of  offices  in  the  State ;  then  their  secret  sacri- 
fices were  prohibited;  then  every  kind  of  divination  was  for- 
bidden; then  the  public  sacrifices  were  suppressed;  and 
finally  the  temples  were  destroyed,  their  images  broken,  and 
the  entire  worship  condemned.1  The  enforcement  of  these 
measures  in  the  country  districts  was  the  last,  the  most  diffi- 
cult, and  the  most  melancholy  scene  of  the  drama.  For  in 
those  days,  when  means  of  communication  were  very  few 
and  ignorance  very  general,  it  was  quite  possible  for  a  re- 
ligious movement  to  gain  a  complete  ascendency  in  the 
towns  while  the.  peasants  were  scarcely  aware  of  its  existence. 
In  their  calm  retreats  the  paroxysms  of  change  were  seldom 
felt.  They  still  continued  with  unfaltering  confidence  to 
worship  the  old  gods  when  a  new  faith  had  attracted  the 
educated  to  its  banner,  or  when  scepticism  was  withering 
the  beliefs  of  the  past.  Multitudes  had  probably  scarcely 


ha.l  been  allowed  freelv  to  celebrate  th'-ir  worship,  but  from  that  time,  eklici 


through   popular  indignation  or  imperial   suspicion?,  there  were   sudden   out 


hursts  of  fearful  persecution 


1  See  the  laws  De  Temnli 


ON   PERSECUTION.  27 

realised  the  existence  of  Christianity  when  the  edict  arrived 
which  doomed  their  temples  to  destruction.  Libanius,  who, 
as  the  minister  of  Julian,  had  exhibited  a  spirit  of  tolerance 
even  more  remarkable  than  that  of  his  master,  p.eaded  the 
peasants'  cause  with  courage,  dignity,  and  pathos.  The  tem- 
ple, he  said,  was  to  them  the  very  eye  of  nature,  the  symbol 
and  manifestation  of  a  present  Deity,  the  solace  of  all  their 
troubles,  the  holiest  of  all  their  joys.  If  it  was  overthrown, 
their  dearest  associations  would  be  annihilated.  The  tie 
that  linked  them  to  the  dead  would  be  severed.  The  poetry 
of  life,  the  consolation  of  labour,  the  source  of  faith  would 
be  destroyed.1  But  these  pleas  were  unavailing.  Under 
Theodosius  the  Great  all  the  temples  were  razed  to  the 
ground,  and  all  forms  of  pagan  and  heretical  worship  abso- 
lutely prohibited.2 

Such  was  the  persecuting  spirit  displayed  by  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  It  is  both  interesting 
and  important  to  observe  how  far  it  was  the  consequence  of 
a  theological  development,  and  what  were 'the  stages  of  that 
development.  The  noble  protests  against  persecution  which 
the  persecuted  prelates  had  uttered  form  indeed  a  striking 
contrast  to  the  measures  I  have  related  ;  but,  unfortunately, 
new  circumstances  produce  new  opinions,  and  when  the  bias 
of  the  will  is  altered,  a  change  will  soon  be  manifested  in  the 
judgment.  Still,  in  justice  to  the  persecutors,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  they  were  but  the  logical  exponents  of  princi- 
ples that  had  before  existed  in  the  Church.  These  principles? 

1  Pro  TtmpUs. 

1  It  is  said,  however,  that,  notwithstanding  thoso  laws,  the  Xovatian?  (prob- 
ably on  account  of  the  extremely  slight  dill'erence  that  separated  them  from 
the  orthodox)  were  allowed  to  celebrate  their  worship  till  A.I'.  5'_'5,  when  the 
Bishop  of  I J one  succeeded  in  procuring  Their  suppression.  (Taylor,  Lib'  ,-fy 
of  Prophesying,  epistle  dedicatory.) 


28  IJAIIOXALISM   IX   Et'EOPE. 

weie  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation,  and  the  conceptions 
of  the  guilt  of  error  and  of  ecclesiastical  authority.  It  is  very 
remarkable,  too,  that  even  before  Constantius  some  theolo- 
gians had  begun  to  deduce  their  rule  of  conduct  towards 
heretics  from  the  penal  enactments  of  the  Levitical  law.  To 
excommunicate  the  heretic  was,  they  said,  to  consign  him  to 
eternal  damnation ;  and  they  were  justified  in  inflicting  this 
frightful  punishment  upon  those  who  rebelled  against  their 
authority,  because  the  ancient  idolater  had  been  punished 
with  death.1  From  such  a  doctrine  there  was  but  a  step  to 
persecution.  The  premises  were  already  formed  ;  it  only  re- 
mained to  draAv  the  obvious  conclusion. 

There  cannot,  I  think,  be  much  doubt  that  the  minds  of 
the  leaders  of  the  Church  were  so  prepared  by  these  modes 
of  thought,  that  the  eulogies  which  Eusebius  unceasingly 
lavishes  upon  the  persecuting  edicts  of  Constantine  were  a 
faithful  expression  of  their  sentiments.  But  the  writer  who 
\vas  destined  to  consolidate  the  whole  system  of  persecution, 
to  furnish  the  arguments  of  all  its  later  defenders,  and  to 
give  to  it  the  sanction  of  a  name  that  long  silenced  every 

1  '  Neither  let  those  who  refuse  to  obey  their  bishops  and  priests  think 
within  themselves  that  they  are  in  the  way  of  lite  aiid  of  salvation,  for  the 
Lord  God  says  in  Deuteronomy,  "  Whoever  will  net  presumptuously,  and  will 
not  hour  the  priest  or  the  judiie,  whoever  he  may  be  in  those  days,  he  shall 
die,  and  the  people  will  hear  and  fear,  and  do  no  more  presumptuously.1'  God 
commanded  those  to  be  slain  who  would  not  obey  the  priests  or  the  judges  set 
over  them  for  a  time.  Then,  indeed,  they  were  Main  with  the  sword  while  the 
ij.irnal  circumcision  still  remained  ;  but  now,  since  the  spiritual  circumcision 
lur;  l>e'_rmi  amid  the  servants  of  God,  the  proud  ami  contumacious  are  killed 
'lien  they  arc  cast  out  of  the  Church.  For  they  cannot  live  without  it :  for 
li  e  house  of  God  is  one,  and  thei>_  can  lie  salvation  for  no  one  except  in  the 
Church.'  (Cypriani  £j/><<(.,  lib.  i.  ep.  11.)  That  excommunication  is  a  severer 
penalty  th;:n  death,  and  that  the  Church,  having  the  power  of  inflicting  the 
first,  may  also  inl'.iet  the  second,  was  one  of  the  arguments  of  I5ellannine  iu 
favour  of  persecution,  and  was  answered  by  Taylor.  Liberty  uf  Prophesying 
3ec.  14. 


ON    PERSECUTION.  29 

pleading  of  mercy,  and  became  the  glory  and  the  watchword 
of  every  persecutor,  was  unquestionably  Augustine,  on  whom 
more  than  any  other  theologian — more  perhaps  even  than  on 
Dominic  and  Innocent — rests  the  responsibility  of  this  fear- 
ful curse.  A  sensualist  and  a  Manichapan,  a  philosopher  an.l 
a  theologian,  a  saint  of  the  most  tender  and  exquisite  pietj , 
and  a  supporter  of  atrocious  persecution,  the  life  of  this  Father 
exhibits  a  strange  instance  of  the  combination  of  the  most 
discordant  agencies  to  the  development  of  a  single  mind,  and 
of.  the  influence  of  that  mind  over  the  most  conflicting  inter- 
ests. Neither  the  unbridled,  passions  of  his  youth,  nor  the 
extravagances  of  the  heresy  he  so  long  maintained,  could 
cloud  the  splendour  of  his  majestic  intellect,  which  was  even 
then  sweeping  over  the  whole  field  of  knowledge,  and  ac- 
quiring in  the  most  unpropitious  spheres  new  elements  of 
strength.  In  the  arms  of  the  frail  beauties  of  Carthage,  he 
learned  to  touch  the  chords  of  passion  with  consummate 
skill;  and  the  subtleties  of  Persian  metaphysics,  the  awfu! 
problems  of  the  origin  of  evil  and  of  the  essence  of  the  soul 
which  he  vainly  sought  to  fathom,  gave  him  a  sense  of  the 
darkness  around  us  that  coloured  every  portion  of  his  teach- 
ing. The  weight  and  compass  of  his  genius,  his  knowledge 
both  of  men  and  of  books,  a  certain  aroma  of  sanctity  that 
imparted  an  inexpressible  charm  to  all  his  later  writings,  and 
a  certain  impetuosity  of  character  that  overbore  every  ob- 
stacle, soon  made  him  the  master  intellect  of  the  Church. 
Others  may  have  had  a  larger  share  in  the  construction  of 
her  formularies — no  one  since  the  days  of  the  apostles  in 
fused  into  her  a  larger  measure  of  his  spirit.  lie  made  it 
his  mission  to  map  out  her  theology  with  inflexible  precision, 
to  develop  its  principles  to  their  full  consequences,  and  to 
coordinate  its  various  parts  into  one  authoritative  and  sym- 


30  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOPE. 

metrical  whole.  Impatient  of  doubt,  he  shrank  from  no  con- 
clusion, however  unpalatable;  he  seemed  to  exult  in  tram- 
pling human  instincts  in  the  dust,  and  in  accustoming  men  to 
accept  submissively  the  most  revolting  tenets.  He  was  the 
most  staunch  and  enthusiastic  defender  of  all  those  doctrines 
that  grow  out  of  the  habits  of  mind  that  lead  to  persecution. 
N^o  one  else  had  developed  so  fully  the  material  character  of 
the  torments  of  hell,  no  one  else  had  plunged  so  deeply  into 
the  speculations  of  predestinarianism,  very  few  had  dwelt  so 
emphatically  on  the  damnation  of  the  unbaptised.  For  a 
time  he  shrank  from,  and  even  condemned,  persecution ;  but  he 
soon  perceived  in  it  the  necessary  consequence  of  his  princi- 
ples. He  recanted  his  condemnation ;  he  flung  his  whole 
genius  into  the  cause  ;  he  recurred  to  it  again  and  again  ;  and 
he  became  the  framer  and  the  representative  of  the  theology 
of  intolerance.1 

Strange  indeed  has  been  the  destiny  of  this  man  !  The 
most  illustrious  of  his  contemporaries,  in  a  few  centuries,  lost 
their  ascendency.  Their  names,  indeed,  still  continued  in 
honour,  their  works  were  read  by  monkish  scholars,  but 
changing  modes  of  thought  and  feeling  soon  isolated  them 
from  the  sympathies  of  mankind.  Alone  by  the  power  of 
his  genius,  Augustine  traversed  the  lapse  of  ages  with  un- 
fading influence;  but  he  survived  to  be  the  watchword  of 
the  most  opposing  doctrines,  the  promoter  alike  of  the  best 
and  worst  sentiments  of  our  nature.  From  his  teaching  con- 
cerning imputed  righteousness,  predestinarianism,  and  good 
works,  the  Protestants  drew  their  most  powerful  weapons. 
In  the  intolerant  rigidity  of  his  doctrines,  in  his  exaltation 


ON    PEESECU'JION.  31 

of  authority,  and  in  the  imperious  character  of  his  genius, 
Catholicism  recognised  her  most  faithful  type.  Both  sects 
found  in  his  writings  the  purest  expressions  of  their  religious 
sentiments,  and  both  sheltered  their  intolerance  beneath  hia 
name. 

The  arguments  by  which  Augustine  supported  persecution 
<vere,  for  the  most  part,  those  which  I  have  already  stated. 
Some  of  them  were  drawn  from  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  sal- 
vation, and  others  from  the  precedents  of  the  Old  Testament. 
It  was  merciful,  he  contended,  to  punish  heretics,  even  by 
death,  if  this  could  save  them  or  others  from  the  eternal 
suffering  that  awaited  the  unconverted.  Heresy  was  de- 
scribed in  Scripture  as  a  kind  of  adultery ;  it  was  the  worst 
species  of  murder,  being  the  murder  of  souls ;  it  was  also  a 
form  of  plasphemy  ;  and  on  all  these  grounds  might  justly  be 
punished.  If  the  New  Testament  contained  no  examples  of 
the  apostles  employing  force,  this  was  simply  because  in 
their  time  no  priest  had  embraced  Christianity.  But  had 
not  Elijah  slaughtered  with  his  own  hand  the  prophets  of 
Baal?  Did  not  Hezekiah,  and  Josiah,  and  the  king  of 
Nineveh,  and  Nebuchadnezzar  after  his  conversion,  destroy 
by  force  idolatry  within  their  dominions,  and  were  they  not 
expressly  commended  for  their  piety?  St.  Augustine  also 
seems  to  have  originated  the.  application  of  the  words. 
'Compel  them  to  enter  in,'  to  religious  persecution.1 

It  is,  however,  worthy  of  remark,  that  although  Augustine 
defended  the  measures  that  had  been  taken  against  the 
Donatist*,  and  although  he  maintained  that  heresy  was  tin- 
worst  of  crimes,  and  that  it  should  be  punished  according  to 
its  enormity,  he  still,  \vitli  an  amiable  inconsistency,  exerted 
himself  much  to  prevent  the  penalty  from  being  capital.  Ho 


32  RATIONALISM   IN   ECKOPE. 

exhorted,  he  even  commanded  as  a  bishop,  those  in  authority 
to  restrict  it  to  banishment ;  he  threatened,  if  they  refused 
to  do  so,  that  the  bishops  would  cease  to  inform  against 
heretics  ;  and  he  laboured  not  unsuccessfully  to  save  the  lives 
of  some  who  were  condemned.1  In  this  respect  the  manner 
in  which  heretics  and  pagans  were  treated  presents  a  re- 
markable contrast.  In  a  passage  which  occurs  in  one  of  his 
letters  to  the  Donatists,  St.  Augustine  informs  us  of  two 
striking  facts.  The  first  is,  that,  in  his  time,  the  sentence  of 
death  was  incurred  by  any  one  who  celebrated  the  rites  of 
the  religion  which  had  a  few  centuries  before  been  universal 
in  the  empire.  The  second  is,  that  this  sentence  was  unan- 
imously applauded  in  the  Christian  Church.2 

The  reluctance  of  the  clergy  to  sanction  the  death  of 
heretics  for  a  long  time  coexisted  with  the  most  earnest  desire 
to  suppress  their  worship  by  force,  and  to  banish  their  teach- 
ers from  the  empire.  The  first  execution  of  heretics  in  which 
ecclesiastics  took  any  part  seems  to  have  been  in  A.D.  385, 

1  See  especially  Epist.  c.  elviii.  clix.  clx.      On  the  other  hand,  Augustine 
bases  the  right  of  punishing  heresy  on  the  enormity  of  the  crime,  which  he 
considered  greater  than   any  other.     (Contra  Gaudcntium,  lib.  i.  c.  six.)     lie 
assimilates  heresy  to  blasphemy,  and  says  that  blasphemy  is  justly  punished 
by  death.     (Ejiht.  cv.,  otherwise  clxvi.)     He  adduces  as  applicable  precedents 
all  the  worst  Old  Testament  persecutions,  and  lie  defends  the  condemnation  of 
Borne  Douatists  to  death  by  Constantino,  on  the  ground  of  justice,  though  IIP 
applauds   on  the  ground  of  mercy  the  remission  of  the  sentence.     (Contra 
Parrnenianum,  lib.  i.  c.  viii.)     His  general  view  seems  to  have  been  that  here- 
tics might  justly  be  punished  by  death,  but  that  the  orthodox  should  not  exact 
Ftrict  justice.     However,  he  vacillated  a  good  deal,  and   both  moderate  and 
extreme  per.-,  outers  find  much  in  their  defence  in  his  writings.     Religious  lib- 
citv  he  eniT'h.itically  cursed.     '  Quid  est  eniin  pejor  mors  aniiua;  quarn  liburtas 
errorisy'     (h'jiiftt.  dxvi.) 

2  '  Qiiis   enim   nostrum,  quis  vestrum  mm  laudat  leges  ab  impcratoribua 
datas  contra  sacrificia  pagnnorum  ?     Kt  eerie  longe  ibi  pcena  sevcrior  consti- 
tuta  est;  illius   quippe  impictatis  capitalc  snpplicium   est.'     (Kjtist.  xciii.,  in 
some  editions  xcviii.J     See  (iibbon,  eh.  .\xviiL 


ON    PERSECUTION.  33 

when  some  Priscillianists  were  put  to  death  at  the  instigation 
of  two  obscure  bishops  named  Ursatius  and  Ithacus.  St. 
Ambrose,  though  one  of  the  most  active  in  procuring  the 
suppression  of  the  Jewish  and  pagan  worship,  protested 
strongly  against  this  act;  and  St.  Martin  of  Tours  de- 
nounced it  with  almost  passionate  vehemence  as  an  atrocious 
trimc,  and  refused  to  hold  any  communion  with  the  offend- 
ing bishops.1  The  indignation  that  was  excited  on  this 
occasion  resulted,  perhaps,  hardly  so  much  from  the  fact 
that  heretics  had  been  pat  to  death,  as  from  the  part  the 
bishops  had  taken  in  the  transaction ;  for  from  an  early 
period  there  was  an  opinion  diffused  through  the  Church, 
of  which  Tertullian  and  Lactantius  were  the  principal  expo- 
nents, that  a  Christian  should  under  no  circumstances  slay 
his  fellow-men,  either  by  bringing  a  capital  charge,  or  by 
acting  as  a  judge,  a  soldier,  or  an  executioner.  When  the 
triumph  of  Christianity  had  been  attained,  it  was  of  course 
necessary  that  this  rule — which,  indeed,  had  never  been  gen- 
erally adopted  in  its  full  stringency — should  be  relaxed  as 
regards  laymen,  but  it  still  continued  in  the  case  of  priests. 
All  ecclesiastics  who  delivered  up  a  culprit  to  the  civil 
power,  without  supplicating  the  judges  that  he  should  not 
be  punished  by  death  or  mutilation,  were  regarded  as  guilty 
of  a  gross  irregularity,  and  were  in  consequence  liable  to 
ecclesiastical  censures.  At  first  this  rule  was  the  expression 
of  a  pure  philanthropy,  and  was  intended  to  save  the  life  of 
the  accused,  but,  it  at  last  degenerated  into  an  act  of  the 

1  Ampere,  Hist.  JJtti-ralrc  •  !>'  In  Fr«ncr,  torn.  i.  pp.  31P,  320;  .Milman,  vol. 
ill.  p.  60  ;  Taylor,  Liberty  of  PropJicsyhiff,  sec.  14.  S-t.  Martin,  however,  was 
one  of  the  most  active  in  destroying  the  pa-an  temple?,  and  iir-rd  in  that  em- 
ployment to  range  over  his  diocese  at  the  head  of  a  perfect  army  of  moukd 
(See  Gibbon.) 


34  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

most  odious  hypocrisy.  Boniface  VIII.  decided  that  a  bishop 
might  safely  deliver  up  a  culprit,  though  he  was  certain  his 
intercession  would  not  be  attended  to;  and  the  same  form 
of  supplication  continued  to  be  employed  by  the  Inquisitors, 
though  they  had  themselves  condemned  the  heretic  to  death, 
and  though  Innocent  VIII.  had  excommunicated  any  raagis-' 
trate  who  either  altered  their  sentence,  or  delayed  more  than 
six  days  in  carrying  it  into  execution.1 

During  the  latter  half  of  the  fourth  century  there  were 
two  causes  which  contributed  especially  to  the  increased 
severity  of  the  persecution.  The  first  was  the  great  devel- 
opment of  the  corporate  action  of  the  clergy,  as  evinced  by 
the  multitude  of  councils.  A  large  proportion  of  these,  and 
among  other*  those  of  Ephesus  and  Constantinople,  which 
were  esteemed  oecumenical,  called  upon  the  civil  power  to 
banish  or  otherwise  punish  the  heretics,2  and  their  decrees 
had  a  considerable  influence  upon  the  government.  The 
second  cause  was  the  establishment  and  rapid  growth  of  the 
monastic  system,  which  called  into  existence  a  body  of  men 
who,  in  self-denial,  in  singleness  of  purpose,  in  heroic  courage, 
and  at  the  same  time  in  merciless  fanaticism,  have  seldom 
been  surpassed.  Abandoning  every  tie  of  home  and  friend- 
ship, discarding  all  the  luxuries  and  most  of  what  are  deemed 
the  necessaries  of  life,  scourging  and  macerating  their  bodies, 

The  history  of  tlii.s  ha?  been  written  in  :i  very  striking  book  called  La 
Ttjliraitcf  J^'c<.liniitifiij>/t  it  Civile,  by  Thaddcus  do  TrautsmandorfF.  The  author 
uus  a  eano;i  of  Ohnutz,  and  afterwards  JJL~hop  of  Kouigsgratz  iu  Bohemia. 
The  work  appeared  in  Latin,  at  Pavia,  in  ITS),  and  was  translated  into  French 
in  1700.  ]t  i-  one  of  the  most  remarkable  books  in  favour  of  tolerance  pio- 
dueed  by  any  prkv-t  in  the  isth  century.  !See,  too,  on  the  form  of  intercession 
employed  by  the  ln>jul-itoi.-,  Liniboreh,  IIist'j/-!a  Imjuixtti'nii,?  (Amsterdam, 
169-),  pp.  303-31)7,  •:,',->. 

-  da  the  influence  of   tiie  Councils   see  Palmer,  vol.  ii.  p.  G39  ;  Mu/arelli, 
Snr  I'lt'ijuititioit. 


ON   PERSECUTION.  35 

aving  in  filth  and  loneliness  and  desolation,  wandering  half- 
starved  and  half-naked  through  the  deserts  with  the  wild 
beasts  for  their  only  companions,  the  early  monks  almost 
extinguished  every  natural  sentiment,  and  emancipated  them- 
selves as  far  as  is  possible  from  the  conditions  of  humanity. 
Ambition,  and  wealth,  and  ease,  and  all  the  motives  that  tell 
most  powerfully  upon  mankind,  were  to  them  unmeaning 
words.  Xo  reward  could  bribe  them,  no  danger  could  appal 
them,  no  affection  could  move  them.  They  had  learned  to 
embrace  misery  with  a  passionate  love.  They  enjoyed  a 
ghastly  pleasure  in  multiplying  forms  of  loathsome  penance, 
and  in  trampling  upon  every  natural  desire.  Their  imagina- 
tions, distempered  by  self-inflicted  sufferings,  peopled  the 
solitude  with  congenial  spirits,  and  transported  them  at  will 
beyond  the  horizon  of  the  grave.  To  promote  the  interests 
of  their  Church  was  the  only  passion  that  remained,  and  to 
gratify  it  there  was  no  suffering  that  they  were  not  ready  to 
endure  or  to  inflict.  The  pagan  historians  have  given  us  a 
graphic  description  of  the  zeal  they  manifested  in  destroying 
the  temples.  Sometimes  a  bishop  led  the  enterprise  from 
which  the  civil  authorities  recoiled,  and  one  prelate,  named 
Marcellus,  perished  in  a  conflict  with  the  peasants  who  were 
defending  with  despairing  courage  the  altars  of  their  gods. 
A  few  years  of  such  zeal  sufficed,  and  paganism  as  a  distinct 
system  perished  in  the  empire. 

After  the  suppression  of  paganism  in  the  Roman  empire, 
a  period  of  many  centuries  occurred  during  which  leligious 
persecution  was  very  rare.  The  principle  was  indeed  fully 
admitted,  and  whenever  the  occasion  called  for  it  it  was 
applied ;  but  heresies  scarcely  ever  appeared,  and  the  few 
that  arose  were  exceedinl  insignificant.  A  few  heretics 


36  RATIONALISM   IX   EUEOPE. 

whose  doctrines  were  merged  in  the  charge  of  magic,  t\*  o  on 
three  who  were  burnt  by  Alexius  Comnenus,  some  more  w  ho 
were  burnt  in  France  in  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century,  and  some  Cathai'i  and  sectaries  with  kindred  views 
who  were  burnt  at  Cologne 1  or  in  Italy,  seem  to  have  been 
all  or  nearly  all  who  perished  for  heresy  during  several 
centuries  before  the  Albigenses.  Catholicism  was  then  per- 
fectly in  accordance  with  the  intellectual  wants  of  Europe. 
It  was  not  a  tyranny,  for  the  intellectual  latitude  it  permitted 
was  fully  commensurate  with  the  wants  of  the  people.  It 
\vas  not  a  sect  or  an  isolated  influence  acting  in  the  midst  of 
Europe  and  forming  one  weight  in  the  balance  of  power,  but 
rather  an  all-pervasive  energy  animating  and  vivifying  the 
whole  social  system.  A  certain  unity  of  type  was  then 
manifested,  which  has  never  been  restored.  The  corpora- 
tions, the  guilds,  the  feudal  system,  the  monarchy,  the  social 
habits  of  the  people,  their  laws,  their  studies,  their  very 
amusements,  all  grew  out  of  ecclesiastical  teaching,  embodied 
ecclesiastical  modes  of  thought,  exhibited  the  same  general 
tendencies,  and  presented  countless  points  of  contact  or  of 

1  Xatalis  Alexander,  Ilistoria  Ecclcsiastica,  torn.  v.  p.  33*7.  The  following 
are  all  the  cases  Simancas  could  collect :  '  Antiquissima  est  poena  ignis  adver- 
uis  impios  ct  lipereticos,  ut  ex  nctis  Chalccdoncnsis  concilii  satis  constare 
potest.  Illic  enim  episcopus  Alexandrimis  dixisse  traditur :  "Si  Eutyches 
praetor  dogmata  ecclesice  sapit  non  solum  pama  dignus  est  sed  et  ignc."  Anato- 
liura  quoque  haereticum  igni  vivura  combusserunt,  ut  Xicephorus  prodidit,  lib. 
xviii.  Eccl.  Hist.  c.  4.  Oregonus  quo([ue,  lib.  i.  liialogovum,  refort  IJasilium 
magura  Romse  fuissc  conibustum  et  rem  gestam  laudut.  Et  proptcr  inipiam 
;it  quo  scek'Staru  di.sciplraarn  Templarii  coneremati  i'uerunt.  .  Et  Basil- 

ins  liicreticus  communi  suffragio  combustus  t'uit,  siculi  Zonaras  rctulit  in 
iinperio  Ale\ii  Cumiicni;  alibi  quoque  hieretici  jam  olim  vivi  creniati  suur, 
quemadmo'luin  1'aulus  J  jnilius,  lil.i.  vi.  de  lit  bus  Fiancunim,  rctulit.  Item 
constitutionibus  Siculis  cavctur  ur  vivi  hierctici  in  conspeetu  populi  coinbu. 
rautur,  fhimrnaruin  c')iniiii~>i  judirio  Quod  legibus  quoque  Hisjianis  constitu 
tuui  et  consuctudino  jam  jn-Mein  recvptiiin  c-t.'  (  DC  Cut/wlicis  Lisfitudo -tibia 
[Hciiui-,  1-V75|  pp.  ot>3,  :;01.} 


ON    PERSECUTION.  37 

analogy.  All  of  them  were  strictly  congruous.  The  Church 
was  the  very  heart  of  Christendom,  and  the  spirit  that 
radiated  from  her  penetrated  into  all  the  relations  of  life,  and 
coloured  the  institutions  it  did  not  create.  In  such  a  condi- 
tion of  society,  heresies  were  almost  impossible.  For  while 
the  particular  form  that  a  heresy  assumes  may  be  dependent 
upon  circumstances  that  are  peculiar  to  the  heresiarch,  the 
existence  and  success  of  heretical  teaching  always  proves 
that  the  tone  of  thought  or  measure  of  probability  prevailing 
at  the  time  has  begun  to  diverge  from  the  tone  of  thought 
or  measure  of  probability  of  orthodoxy.  As  long  as  a  church 
is  so  powerful  as  to  form  the  intellectual  condition  of  the  age, 
to  supply  the  standing-point  from  which  every  question  is 
viewed,  its  authority  will  never  be  disputed.  It  will  reflect 
so  perfectly  the  general  conceptions  of  the  people,  that  no 
difficulties  of  detail  will  seriously  disturb  it.  This  ascend- 
ency was  gained  by  mediaeval  Catholicity  more  completely 
than  by  any  other  system  before  or  since,  and  the  stage  of 
civilisation  that  resulted  from  it  was  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant in  the  evolutions  of  society.  By  consolidating  the  hete- 
rogeneous and  anarchical  elements  that  succeeded  the  down- 
fall of  the  Roman  empire,  by  infusing  into  Christendom  the 
conception  of  a  bond  of  unity  that  is  superior  to  the  divisions 
of  nationhood,  and  of  a  moral  tie  that  is  superior  to  force,  by 
softening  slavery  into  serfdom  and  preparing  the  \vay  fortlie 
ultimate  emancipation  of  labour,  Catholicism  laid  the  very 
foundations  of  modern  civilisation.  Herself  the  most  admi- 
rable of  all  organisations,  there  \va<  formed  beneath  her  influ- 
ence a  vast  network  of  organisations,  political,  munk'ipal, 
and  social,  which  supplied  a  large  proportion  of  the  material 
of  almost  every  modern  ^tnirtmv. 

But  thouh   in    man     resects  admiri'Nit    .md    u-eful,  tins 


OS  RATIONALISM   IN    EUSOPE. 

stage  was  manifestly  transitory.  It  could  only  exist  by  tluo 
suppression  of  all  critical  spirit,  by  a  complete  paralysis  of 
the  speculative  faculties.  It  was  associated  with  conceptions 
of  the  government  of  the  universe,  the  history  of  the  past, 
and  the  prospects  of  the  future,  that  were  fundamentally 
false,  and  must  necessarily  have  been  dissolved  by  advancing 
knowledge.  As  soon  as  the  revival  of  learning  commenced, 
as  soon  as  the  first  pulsations  of  intellectual  life  were  felt, 
the  movement  of  decomposition  began.  From  that  moment 
Catholicism,  aiming  at  an  impossible  immobility,  became  the 
principle  of  retrogression.  From  that  moment  she  employed 
all  the  resources  that  her  position  and  her  great  services  had 
given  her,  to  arrest  the  expansion  of  the  human  mind,  to  im- 
pede the  circulation  of  knowledge,  and  to  quench  the  lamp 
of  liberty  in  blood.  It  was  in  the  course  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury that  this  change  was  manifested,  and  in  the  beginning 
of  the  next  century  the  system  of  coercion  was  matured.  In 
1208,  Innocent  III.  established  the  Inquisition.  In  1209,  DC 
Montfort  began  the  massacre  of  the  Albigenscs.  In  1215, 
the  Fourth  Council  of  the  Lateran  enjoined  all  rulers,  'as 
they  desired  to  be  esteemed  faithful,  to  swear  a  public  oath 
that  they  would  labour  earnestly,  and  to  the  full  extent  of 
their  power,  to  exterminate  from  their  dominions  all  those 
who  were  branded  as  heretics  by  the  Church.'1 

1  The  Fourth  Council  of  the  Lateran  is  esteemed  oecumenical  in  the.  Church 
of  Home,  and  exercised  very  irreat,  influence  both  OH  this  account  and  because 
it  was  tlu-  council  which  first  defined  the  doctrine  of  transubstaptiation.  Its 
decree  on  persecution,  however,  had  been  anticipated  by  the  Council  of  Avi- 
gnor.,  in  1209,  which  enjoined  all  bishops  to  call  upon  the  civil  power  to  exter 
ruinate  heretics.  (Ilohrbacher,  Jliaf.  dc  V Eyl'Sc  C<!(7"^i<j'.'c,  torn,  xvii  p.  '220.) 
The  'v,  I1  of  Innocent  III.  threatened  any  prince  who  refused  to  extirpate  here- 
tics from  bis  realm,  with  excommunication,  and  with  the  forfeiture  of  hi* 

lon,in!on=.      Pee   tic  tex<    in   Eymericus,   I)ii-r<'/<»-!>t,,i   Ltr/>/;.«;/<,r>nii  (Ronur, 

L"7S),    >.  GO. 


ON    PERSECUTION.  39 

It  is  in  itself  evident,  and  it  is  abundantly  proved  by 
history,  that  the  virulence  theologians  will  display  towards 
those  who  differ  from  them,  will  depend  chiefly  on  the  degree 
in  which,  the  dogmatic  side  of  their  system  is  developed. 
'  See  how  these  Christians  love  one  another,'  was  the  just 
and  striking  exclamation  of  the  heathen  in  the  first  century. 
'  There  are  no  wild  beasts  so  ferocious  as  Christians  who 
differ  concerning  their  faith,'  was  the  equally  striking  and 
probably  equally  just  exclamation  of  the  heathen  in  the 
fourth  century.  And  the  reason  of  this  difference  is  mani- 
fest. In  the  first  century  there  was,  properly  speaking, 
scarcely  any  theology,  no  system  of  elaborate  dogmas 
authoritatively  imposed  upon  the  conscience.  Neither  the 
character  of  the  union  of  two  natures  in  Christ,  nor  the  doc- 
trine of  the  atonement,  nor  the  extent  of  the  authority  of  the 
Church,  had  been  determined  with  precision,  and  the  whole 
stress  of  religious  sentiment  was  directed  towards  the  wor- 
ship of  a  moral  ideal,  and  the  cultivation  of  moral  qualities. 
But  in  the  fourth  century  men  were  mainly  occupied  with 
innumerable  subtle  and  minute  questions  of  theology,  to 
which  they  attributed  a  transcendent  importance,  and  which 
in  a  o-reat  measure  diverted  their  minds  from  moral  con- 

O 

siderations.  However  strongly  the  Homoousians  and  II  o- 
mooisians  were  opposed  to  each  other  on  other  points,  they 
were  at  least  perfectly  agreed  that  the  adherents  of  the 
wrono-  vowel  could  not  possiblv  u-ot  to  heaven,  and  that  the 

O  •/       ~ 

highest  conceivable  virtues  were  futile  when  associated  with 
error.  In  the  twelfth  century,  when  persecution  recom- 
menced, the  dogmatic  or  ecclesiastical  element  had  been  still 
further  a<r<rrandisod  bv  the  immense  development  ot  ecdesi- 

O  V?  4. 

astical  ceremonies,  and  the  violence  with  which  it  was 
defended  was  proportionally  unscrupulous.  Tin-  reluctance 


iO  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

to  shed  blood  which  had  so  honourably  distinguished  the 
Fathers  completely  passed  away ;  or,  if  we  find  any  trace  oi 
it,  it  is  only  in  the  quibble  by  which  the  Church  referred  the 
execution  of  her  mandates  to  the  civil  magistrate,  who,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  not  permitted  to  delay  that  execution  for 
more  than  six  days,  under  pain  of  excommunication.  Almost 
all  Europe,  for  many  centuries,  was  inundated  with  blood, 
which  was  shed  at  the  direct  instigation  or  with  the  full 
approval  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  and  under  the 
pressure  of  a  public  opinion  that  was  directed  by  the 
Catholic  clergy,  and  was  the  exact  measure  of  their  in- 
fluence. 

That  the  Church  of  Rome  has  shed  more  innocent  blood 
than  any  other  institution  that  has  ever  existed  amono-  man- 

*.  o 

kind,  will  be  questioned  by  no  Protestant  who  has  a  compe- 
tent knowledge  of  history.  The  memorials,  indeed,  of  many 
of  her  persecutions  are  now  so  scanty,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  form  a  complete  conception  of  the  multitude  of  her  vic- 
tims, and  it  is  quite  certain  that  no  powers  of  imagination 
can  adequately  realise  their  sufferings.  Llorente,  who  had 
free  access  to  the  archives  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  assures 
us  that  by  that  tribunal  alone  more  than  31,000  persons  were 
burnt,  and  more  lhan  200, 000  condemned  to  punishments  less 
severe  than  death.1  The  number  of  those  who  were  put  to 

1  Llorente,  ffuf.  He  riiKji'isitiot),  torn.  iv.  pp.  '271,  'J72.  This  does  not 
include  those  who  jieri-hed  by  the  branches  of  the  .Spanish  Inquisition  in 
Mexico,  Lima,  Carthapcna,  the  Iii'lies,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Onui,  and  Malta. 
Llorente  having  lit -en  himself  at  one  time  secretary  in  the  Inquisition,  and 
haviiv.:  durintr  the  occupation  by  the  French  had  access  to  all  the  secret  papers 
of  the  tribunal,  will  always  be  the  highest  authority.  One  would  fain  hope, 
however  (and  it  is  very  jirnbaljli.-!.  that  these  fiLrures  arc  overstated,  and  Pivs- 
cott  has  detected  two  or  tlnvc  in-tances  of  c-xa^LT'-ratiiin  in  the  calculations  on 
\\hich  they  are  based.  f /•".•</''/"';/</  (W /«»7«-7/r/,  vol.  iii.  pp.  492,  493.)  Al 
th-  same  tinit  Lloivnte  lias  adduced  s.oine  fearful  evidence  of  particular  in 


ON    PERSECUTION.  4-1 

death  for  their  religion  in  the  Netherlands  alone,  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  V.,  has  been  estimated  by  a  very  high  authority 
at  50,000,'  and  at  least  half  as  many  perished  under  his  son.1 
And  when  to  these  memorable  instances  we  add  the  innumer- 
able less  conspicuous  executions  that  took  place,  from  the 
victims  of  Charlemagne  to  the  free-thinkers  of  the  seventeenth 
century ;  when  we  recollect  that  after  the  mission  of  Dominic 
the  area  of  the  persecution  comprised  nearly  the  whole  of 
Christendom,  and  that  its  triumph  was  in  many  districts  so 
complete  as  to  destroy  every  memorial  of  the  contest ;  the 
most  callous  natiire  must  recoil  with  horror  from  the 
spectacle.  For  these  atrocities  were  not  perpetrated  in  the 
brief  paroxysms  of  a  reign  of  terror,  or  by  the  hands  of  ob- 
scure sectaries,  but  were  inflicted  by  a  triumphant  Church, 
with  every  circumstance  of  solemnity  and  deliberation.  Xor 
did  the  victims  perish  by  a  brief  and  painless  death,  but  by 
one  which  was  carefully  selected  as  among  the  most  poignant 
that  man  can  sutler.  They  were  usually  Imrnt  alive.  They 
were  burnt  alive  not  unfrequently  by  a  slow  lire/1  They 

stances  of  persecution,  which  Serve  to  show  that  his  trrand  total  is  scarcely  as 
improbable  as  mL'ht  be  supposed.  Thus  Mariana  says  that  '2,0(10  persons  were 
burnt  in  Andalusia  in  1-lSi1,  the  year  of  the  establishment  of  the  ]n']ni.-iiion. 
An  old  historian,  named  BenuiMez.  says  that  TOO  were  burnt  at  Seville  between 
1 18*2  and  1489  ;  and  an  inscription  placed  over  the  door  of  the  Inquisition  of 
Seville  in  1521,  declares  that  nearly  1,000  persons  had  been  burnt  since  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jews  in  IIO'J.  (Lloreiite,  toni.  i.  pp.  liT'i-'JT.V! 

1  Sarpi,  7/V.  of  (V>"»<-?/  <•/•'  Ti-<nt.     (irotiu-  :M\S  loo.oOo. 

'J  'Upon  the  Kth  of  Fd unary,  ir.iV^,  a  sentence  of  the  II. -1\  Oiliee  eon 
denincd  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  (•>  <l><if!i  as  heretics.  From  this 
universal  doom  only  a  few  persons  especially  named  were  exempted.  A  ]>r<>e- 
'atnation  of  the  kinu',  dated  ten  davs  later,  emiiirnicd  thi~  decree  of  tin-  In- 
quisition, anil  ordered  it  to  be  carried  into  instant,  execution.  .  .  .  Ti.ive. 
millions  of  people,  men,  women,  and  children,  wore  sentenced  to  the  Se.iii'nl  1 
in  three  lines.'  (Motley's  JV.«-  „/  ,/--•  1  >„/,•!,  R,  ^il,!',,-.  vol.  ii.  p.  l.VVl 

3  One  of  the  advantages   of  this   hcimr  that    thev'kiini   had   HUT. 
repentance.      The  following  edifying  anecdote  i>   trmu   Kynieiicu-  :    'It 


12  RATIONALISM   ENT    EUROPE. 

were  burnt  alive  after  their  constancy  had  been  tried  by  the 
most  excruciating  agonies  that  minds  fertile  in  torture  could 

o       o 

devise.1     This  was  the  physical  torment  inflicted  on  those 

Ionia,  in  civitate  Barchinon,  fucrunt  tres  haeretici,  ut  irnpenitentes  sed  non  re- 
lapsi,  traditi  brachio  saeculari ;  et  cum  unus  eorum  qui  crat  saeerdos  fuisset 
igiii  expositus,  et  ex  uno  latcrc  jam  aliqnaliter  adustus,  clamavit  quod  cducero- 
f.ur  quia  volebat  abjurare,  et  pcenitebat.  Et  sic  factum  est:  verum  si  bene  vel 
male,  nescio.'  (Directorium  Inquisitorum,  p.  335.)  Castellio  notices  in  his 
time  the  bitter  complaints  of  some  zealous  theologians  '  si  quern  videant  stran- 
gulari,  ac  non  vivum  lenta  flammA  torreri.'  (Gluten,  De  Hcereticis  perseqncndis 
[1610]:  Preface  of  Martin  Bellius.)  See  for  a  very  horrible  instance  (pro- 
duced, however,  by  aggravated  circumstances),  Sessa,  De  Judceis  (Turin,  171 7), 
p.  96.  I  may  mention  here  that  Eymcricus  was  an  Inquisitor  in  Aragon  about 
1363.  His  Directorium  was  printed  at  Barcelona  as  early  as  1503  ;  it  passed 
through  a  great  many  editions,  and  with  the  Commentaries  of  Pegna  was  long 
the  standing  guide  of  the  Inquisition.  The  admiring  biographer  of  Eymcricus 
sums  up  his  claims  upon  posterity  in  one  liapuy  sentence  :  '  Ifec  inagna  est  et 
postrema  viri  laus,  eura  acri  odio  hrereticos  omnes  habuisse.'  Independently 
of  its  value  as  throwing  light  upon  the  Inquisition  in  its  earlier  stages,  this 
book  is  remarkable  as  giving  a  singularly  clear  view  of  the  heresies  of  the 
time.  I  have  not  met  anywhere  else  with  so  satisfactory  a  review  of  the  opin- 
ions of  Avcvroes.  In  addition  to  the  brief  sketch  prefixed  to  the  Directorium, 
there  is  a  full  history  of  the  life  of  Eymericus  (which  was  rather  remarkable) 
in  Touron,  Hist,  dcs  Homines  lllnstres  dcVOrdre  de  St.  Dominique. 

1  The  tortures  of  the  Inquisition  I  have  noticed  in  the  last  chapter;  but  I 
may  add  that  this  mode  of  examination  was  expressly  enjoined  by  Pope  In- 
nocent IV.  in  a  bull  beginning:  '  Teneatur  pneterea  potestas  sen  rector  omaes 
hiereticos  quos  caj-tas  halmerit  cogere  citra  membri  diminutioncm  et  mortis 
pcriculum  tanquarn  vere  latvoues  et  homieidas  animarum,  et  fares  Sacramen- 
torum  Dei  et  tidei  Christiana'1,  errores  suos  expresse  fateri  ct  aceusare  alios 
hfcrcticos.'  Clement  IV.  issued  a  bull  nearly  in  the  same  terms  (Eymericus, 
Appendix,  p.  9).  It  was  derided  by  the  Inquisitors  that  even  a  heretic  who 
confessed  his  u'uilt  mi  Jit  be  tortured  to  discover  his  accomplices  ^Carena,  De 
Jnfj'!iiiifi<»ie  [Lugduni,  10-19],  pp.  09-73).  The  rule  was  that  the  tortures  were 
not  to  be  njmtkd,  but  it  was  decided  that  they  might  be  continual  through  three 
days:  '  Si  quji'.-tiomitus  deccnter  noluerit  fatrri  veritatcm  .  .  .  potent  ml 
terrorcm,  vel  etiam  ad  vrritatem,  secmvla  dies  vel  tertia  assignari  ad  eontinuan- 
dum  torment;),  non  ad  itrranuum,  quia  iterari  non  debent,  nisi  nevis  super- 
venicntibus  indieiis  contra  eiim,  quia  tune  por-Mint :  sed  continual!  non  prohi- 
bentur.'  (I'ymericus,  p.  31-1.)  Paramo,  a  Sicilian  Inquisitor,  assures  us  that 
tiie  InqiiVition  was  like  the  good  Samaritan,  pouring  into  its  wounded  country 
l'i>'  wine  of  *  wholesome  severity  mingled  with  the  oil  of  mercy.  He  was  also 


OX   PERSECUTION.  43 

who  dared  to  exercise  their  reason  in  the  pursuit  of  truth  ; 
but  what  language  can  describe,  and  what  imagination  can 
conceive,  the  mental  suffering  that  accompanied  it?  For  in 
those  days  the  family  was  divided  against  itself.  The  ray 
of  conviction  often  fell  npon  a  single  member,  leaving  all 
others  untouched.  The  victims  who  died  for  heresy  were 
not,  like  those  who  died  for  witchcraft,  solitary  and  doting 
women,  but  were  usually  men  in  the  midst  of  active  life,  and 
often  in  the  first  flush  of  youthful  enthusiasm,  and  those  who 
loved  them  best  were  firmly  convinced  that  their  agonies 
upon  earth  were  but  the  prelude  of  eternal  agonies  hereafter.1 
This  Avas  especially  the  case  witli  weak  women,  who  feel 
most  acutely  the  sufferings  of  others,  and  around  Avhosc 
minds  the  clergy  had  most  successfully  wound  their  toils. 
It  is  horrible,  it  is  appalling  to  reflect  what  the  mother,  the 
wife,  the  sister,  the  daughter  of  the  heretic  must  have  suf- 
fered from  this  teaching.  She  saw  the  body  of  him  who  was 
dearer  to  her  than  life,  dislocated  and  writhing  and  quiver- 
ing with  pain  ;  sue  watched  the  slow  fire  creeping  from  limb 
to  limb  till  it  had  swathed  him  in  a  sheet  of  agony ;  and  when 
at  last  the  scream  of  anguish  had  died  away,  and  the  tor- 
tured body  was  at  rest,  she  was  told  that  all  this  was  ac- 
ceptable to  the  God  she  served,  and  was  but  a  faint  image 
of  the  sufferings  lie  would  inflict  through  eternity  upon  the 
dead.  Xothing  was  wanting  to  give  emphasis  to  the  doc- 
trine. It  rang  from  every  pulpit.  It  was  pointed  over 

5f  opi)  'oil  that  it  resembled  the  .Tc\vi<!i  t:il)rr!i;ic!i\  in  \\hieh  the  rod  of  Aaron 
aud  the  manna  (of  mcicy )  iuy  side  l>y  >ide.  I  Iff  Origin.  /,«/.  p.  l.Vl.) 

1  The  following  is  part  of  the  sentence  pronounced  upon  the  ivl.ipM'd  heio- 
tic:  'Tu  in  reproljum  sensum  d;itus,  m.di^iio  -,'irim  din-tn-  paiitcr  et  scduc'iis 
prseclkvisti  torqneri  diris  et  perpetuis  eruciatibus  in  infernuin,  ei  hie  teinpor.di 
bus  ipnibus  corporalittr  consuman,  qu.un  adhrerendo  eon^ilio  janinri  ;il>  ci'.'on 
bus  damnabilibus  no  pe.^tiferis  re.-ilire.'  (Kyinerien-;.  p.  -'-!7.j 


4  fiATIOXALISM    IM    EUROPE. 

every  altar.  The  Spanish  heretic  was  led  to  the  flames  in  a 
dress  covered  with  representations  of  devils  and  of  frightful 
tortures,  to  remind  the  spectators  to  the  very  last  of  the  doom 
that  awaited  him. 

All  this  is  very  horrible,  but  it  is  only  a  small  part  of  the 
misery  which  the  persecuting  spirit  of  Rome  has  produced. 
For,  judging  by  the  ordinary  measure  of  human  courage,  for 
every  man  who  dared  to  avow  his  principles  at  the  stake, 
there  must  have  been  multitudes  who  believed  that  by  such 
an  avowal  alone  they  could  save  their  souls,  but  who  were 
nevertheless  scared  either  by  the  prospect  of  their  own  suf- 
ferings or  of  the  destitution  of  their  children,1  who  passed 

'  It  was  the  invariable  rule  to  confiscate  the  entire  property  of  the  impen- 
itent heretic,  a  rule  which  Paramo  justifies  on  the  ground  that  the* crime  of  the 
heretic  is  so  great  that  something  of  his  impurity  falls  upon  all  related  to  him, 
and  that  the  Almighty  (whom  he  blasphemously  terms  the  First  Inquisitor) 
deprived  both  Adam  and  his  descendants  of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  The  chil- 
dren of  the  heretic  were  thus  left  absolutely  destitute,  and  with  a  stigrna  upon 
them  that  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  was  sufficient  to  shut  them 
out  from  all  sympathy,  from  all  charity,  and  from  all  hope.  The  thought  that 
those  who  were  most  dear  to  him  would  probably  be  abandoned  either  to  star- 
vation or  to  the  life  of  the  prostitute,  was  doubtless  one  of  most  acute  pangs 
of  the  martyr,  and  the  hope  of  preventing  such  a  catastrophe  one  of  the  most 
powerful  inducements  to  recant.  In  this  rule  we  have  also  au  explanation  of 
those  trials,  of  dead  men  for  heresy  which  the  Catholic  clergy  so  frequently 
instituted.  Protestants  sometimes  regard  these  simply  as  displays  of  impotent 
malice.  Nothing,  however,  can  be  more  false.  They  had  the  very  intelligible 
ubjeet  of  robbing  the  children  of  the  dead.  '  Ju.-te  enim  proceditur  contra 
defunctos  liXTeticos.  Primo,  ut  inemoria  ejus  darnnatur.  Secundo,  ut  bona 
illius  per  fiscum  ab  hjeredibus  defuneti  seu  a  quibuslibet  aliis  possessoribus 
auferantur.'  (Paramo,  De  Or\y.  ct  Pro:~ircssu  S'l'tf/i  Inqitiaitlonis  [Madrid, 
159S],  p.  588.)  The  confiscation  of  the  good-  of  the  heretic  was  authorised  b\  a 
l;ull  of  Iminrriu  III.  (V>n  the  ground  th.U  children  are  in  tin-  Divine  jud^menti 
vlten  puni-hed  for  the  offences  of  their  fathers^,  and  airain  by  Alexander  IV 
(Eyujcricus,  pp.  58,  5'.(,  04.)  The  following  pas-a_re  from  an  old  ecclesiastical 
lawyer  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  the  ferocity  displayed  towards  the  children  of 
heretics:  '  Ip-i  filii  luereticonim  adeo  s-unt  effect i  a  jure  ineapaees  et  inhabili-s 
ad  succedendmn  patri,  quod  illi  etiam  in  uno  niimmo  succedere  non  possunt : 
imrno  semper  debent  n:  raiseria  et  egestate  sordescere  sicut  filii  rcorum  eriminis 


ON    PERSECUTION.  45 

tlieir  lives  in  one  long  series  of  hypocritical  observances  and 
studied  falsehoods,  and  at  last,  with  minds  degraded  bj 
habitual  deception,  sank  hopeless  and  terror-stricken  into  the 
grave.1  And  besides  all  these  things,  we  have  to  remember 
that  the  spirit  which  was  manifested  in  acts  of  detailed  pei  - 
Becution  had  often  swept  over  a  far  wider  sphere,  and  pro  • 
duced  sufferings  not  perhaps  so  excruciating,  but  far  moie  ex- 
tensive. We  have  to  recollect  those  frightful  massacres,  per- 
haps the  most  fearful  the  world  has  ever  seen  :  the  massacre 
of  the  Aibigenses  which  a  pope  had  instigated,  or  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew  for  which  a  pope  returned  solemn  thanks 
to  Heaven.  "We  have  to  recollect  those  religious  Avars  which 
reproduced  themselves  century  after  century  with  scarcely 
diminished  fury,  which  turned  Syria  into  an  Aceldama,  which 
inundated  with  blood  the  fairest  lands  of  Europe,  which 
blasted  the  prosperity  and  paralysed  the  intellect  of  many  r 
noble  nation,  and  which  planted  animosities  in  Europe  that 
two  hundred  years  have  been  unable  altogether  to  destroy. 
Xor  should  we  forget  the  hardening  effects  that  must  have 
been  produced  on  the  minds  of  the  spectators  who  at  every 
royal  marriage  in  Spain  were  regaled  by  the  public  execu- 
tion of  heretics,  or  who  were  summoned  to  the  great  square 
of  Toulouse  to  contemplate  the  struggles  of  tour  hundred 


ItesiB  majcstatis  hnmana1,  adeo  quod  niliil  aliud  eis  sit  ivhn'ie.^ndnm,  iii-i  sola 
vita  qua?  ex  miserieonlia  larinrir,  et  tales  fsse  delient  in  hoc  i  nmdo  ta  eis  vita 
?it  supplicium  et  mors  solatium.'  (Farinachis,  1><  !>•  li<-l'<x  <t  1'n  ,<ix,  p.  205; 
Venice,  lt>19.)  However,  it  was  provided  that  ehildivn  who  hr'rayrd  (hi  ir 
parents  preserved  their  inheritance.  I  hi  the  laws  ivsnhini:  from  these  nntiiip.s, 
see  Preseott,  Fc,-<lin<hi<l  n,«l  /v. /„/',/.  Vnl.  i.  jip.  -Ji'.j.  -Jii:j. 

J  ]>efore  operatiuir  in  any  ili-triet,  tin1  Inqnir-itms  ahv.iy?  made  ,i  jiri'u'lania- 
tion  off'ei'iiii:  nanlon  i.niler  certain  e'':i'!iii"'i~  to  ilio-r  who  eontV-.-L-'i  and  n1- 
traeteil  their  heresies  wiihiti  thirty  o'-  i'nriy  days.  Mariana  says  ihat  ^l.-'ii  ''•,'•• 
proclamation  was  made,  on  tin-  lir.-t  establishment  nt'  thr  fnqiiisiti'iii  in  An  i'i 
nsia.  17,i Kin  recantations  followed.  (!>,•  li>  '^/x  }/;<;„, ,,;-ix  lih.  \\iv.c,  17.) 


16  KATIONALISM   EST   ECKOPE. 

witcbes  in  the  flames.  When  we  add  together  all  these 
various  forms  of  suffering,  and  estimate  all  their  aggravar 
tions ;  when  we  think  that  the  victims  of  these  persecutions 
were  usually  men  who  were  not  only  entirely  guiltless,  but 
who  proved  themselves  by  their  very  deaths  to  be  endowed 
with  most  transcendent  and  heroic  virtues ;  and  when  we  still 
further  consider  that  all  this  was  but  part  of  one  vast  con- 
spiracy to  check  the  development  of  the  human  mind,  and  to 
destroy  that  spirit  of  impartial  and  unrestricted  enquiry 
which  all  modern  researches  prove  to  be  the  very  first  con- 
dition of  progress  as  of  truth ;  when  we  consider  all  these 
things,  it  can  surely  be  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the 
Church  of  Home  has  inflicted  a  greater  amount  of  unmerited 
suffering  than  any  other  religion  that  lias  ever  existed  among 
mankind.  To  complete  the  picture,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
acid  that  these  things  were  done  in  the  name  of  the  Teacher 
who  said:  'By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disci- 
ples, that  ye  love  one  another.' 

But  while  the  preeminent  atrocity  of  the  persecutions  of 
the  Church  of  Home  is  fully  admitted,  nothing  can  be  more 
grossly  disingenuous  or  untrue  than  to  represent  persecution 
as  her  peculiar  taint.  She  persecuted  to  the  full  extent  of 
the  power  of  her  clergy,  and  that  power  was  very  great. 
The  persecution  of  which  every  Protestant  Church  was  guilty, 
was  measured  by  the  same  rule,  but  clerical  influence  in 
Protestant  countries  was  comparatively  weak.  The  Protes- 
tant persecutions  were  never  so  sanguinary  as  those  of  the 
Catholics,  but  the  principle  was  affirmed  quite  as  strongly, 
was  acted  on  quite  as  constantly,  and  was  defended  quite  as 
pertinaciously  by  the  clergy.  In  Germany,  at  the  time  of 
the  protestation  of  Spires,  when  the  name  of  Protestant  was 
assumed,  the  Lutheran  princes  absolutely  prohibited  the  cele- 


ON   PEKSECUTION.  47 

liration  of  mass  within  their  dominions.  In  England  a  simi- 
lar measure  was  passed  as  early  as  Edward  VI.1  On  the 
accession  of  Elizabeth,  and  before  the  Catholics  had  given 
any  signs  of  discontent,  a  law  was  made  prohibiting  any  re- 
ligious service  other  than  the  Prayer  Book,  the  penalty  for 
the  third  offence  being  imprisonment  for  life  ;  while  another 
law  imposed  a  tine  on  any  one  who  abstained  from  the  Angli- 
can service.  The  Presbyterians  through  a  long  succession 
of  reigns  were  imprisoned,  branded,  mutilated,  scourged,  and 
exposed  in  the  pillory.  Many  Catholics  under  false  pretences 
were  tortured  and  hung.  Anabaptists  and  Arians  were 
burnt  alive.2  In  Ireland,  the  religion  of  the  immense  majori- 

'  Hallam,  Const.  Hint. 

2  Kid.  And  then  in  15G2  it  was  enacted,  thai  all  who  had  ever  graduated 
at  the  universities  or  received  holy  orders,  all  lawyers,  all  magistrates,  must 
take  the  oath  of  supremacy  when  tendered  to  them,  under  pain  of  forfeiture 
or  imprisonment  during  the  royal  pleasure;  and  if  after  three  months  they 
refused  to  take  the  oath  when  again  tendered  to  them,  they  wore  guilty  of  high 
treason  and  condemned  to  death.  Xow  the  discontent  of  tlte  Catholics  might 
be  a  very  good  reason  for  making  them  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  which  is 
simply  a  test  of  loyalty.  It  might  even  be  a  reason  for  making  the  oatii  ot 
supremacy  obligatory  on  those  who  for  the  future  aspired  to  olliees  of  impor- 
tance— in  other  words,  for  excluding  the  Catholics  from  such  olHces ;  but  to 
pass  a  retrospective  law  which  made  almost  every  educated  Roman  Catholic, 
if  he  refused  to  take  an  oath  which  was  absolutely  and  confessedly  irreconcil- 
able with  the  doctrines  of  his  Church,  liable  to  be  punished  with  death,  was  as 
sweeping  a  measure  of  persecution  as  any  that  history  records.  And  this  was 
done  many  years  before  the  bull  which  deposed  Elizabeth.  The  misconceptions 
which  ignorance,  and  worse  than  ignorance,  accumulated  around  this  subject 
have  been  so  completely  dispelled  by  Ilallam  and  M:icaulay  lh.it  1  will  old 
add  one  remark.  The  principal  apolutry  \\hich  was  published  for  tin1  polky  ut 
E'i/abali  towards  the  Catholics,  was  Hisln-p  I'.ilson's  '.'hrhtlun  ,>'»/;/<  c/w/i,  i:i 
iSE.j.  In  that  work  the  coercive  laws  were  openly  ju.-tilled  on  the  ground  of 
tin  absolute  sinfulncss  of  toleration  i;.p.  K>-2',M.  Nor  was  it  merely  the  public 
profession  of  error  which  was  ri::htl\  prohibited.  This  diMinction  the  l!i>hon 
indignantly  repudiates.  'Xo  corner  is  M>  secret,'  lie  r-ays  addri.-Miig  the  Ca; ho- 
lies, 'no  prison  so  close,  but  \our  impiety  there  sutli-red  doth  oilet.d  (iod, 
iafeet  others,  and  confirm  your  own  frowardness.  It'  your  ielLi«;i  he  urood, 
why  should  it  lack  churches?  I!'  it  be  naught,  why  >h..uld  it  l:ave  iha:alu-rs  ? 


'IS  EATIOXALISM   EV    EUROPE. 

ty  of  the  people  was  banned  and  proscribed ;  and  when  in 
1626  the  Government  manifested  some  slight  wish  to  grant 
it  partial  relief,  nearly  all  the  Irish  Protestant  bishops,  under 
the  presidency  of  Usher,  assembled  to  protest  in  a  solemn 
resolution  against  the  indulgence.  'The  religion  of  Papists,1 
they  said,  'is  superstitious,  their  faith  and  doctrine  erroneous 
and  heretical ;  their  Church  in  respect  of  both  apostatical. 
To  give  them  therefore  a  toleration,  or  to  consent  that  they 
may  freely  exercise  their  religion,  and  profess  their  faith  and 
doctrine,  is  a  grievous  sin.' '  In  Scotland,  during  almost  th« 
whole  period  that  the  Stuarts  were  on  the  throne  of  England, 
a  persecution  rivalling  in  atrocity  almost  any  on  record  was 
directed  by  the  English  Government,  at  the  instigation  of 
the  Scotch  bishops,  and  with  the  approbation  of  the  English 
Church,  against  all  who  repudiated  episcopacy.  If  a  conven 
tide  was  held  in  a  house,  the  preacher  was  liable  to  be  put 
to  death.  If  it  was  held  in  the  open  air,  both  minister  and 
people  incurred  the  same  fate.  The  Presbyterians  were 
hunted  like  criminals  over  the  mountains.  Their  ears  were 
torn  from  the  roots.  They  were  branded  with  hot  irons. 
Their  fingers  were  wrenched  asunder  by  the  thumbkins. 
The  bones  of  their  legs  were  shattered  in  the  boots. 
Women  were  scourged  publicly  through  the  streets.  !Multi- 
tudes  were  transported  to  Barbadoes.  An  infuriated  soldiery 
was  let  loose  upon  them,  and  encouraged  to  exercise  all  their 
ingenuity  in  torturing  them.2  Nor  was  it  only  the  British 

A  Christian  prince  nay  not  pardon  or  wink  at  your  falsehood  '  (p.  2f>).  iv-e 
.il.-o  on  the  duty  of  intolrranee,  pp.  lO-'JU.  Milner,  in  his  Letters  t<j  a  Prelien- 
do'fii.  has  collected  much  evidence  on  the  subject.  There  is  mudi  liinh  aa 
•.vdl  as  bittf-r  do,|iii-i,c,'  in  tin:  taunt  of  an  old  persecuted  Puritan,  \\hen  lie 
denounced  Anglicanism  as  'the  Cliurdi  that  is  planted  in  the  blood  of  her 
mother.' 

'  Elrin.L'ton,  L'if'  "f  r.-.W,  vol.  i.  p.  7". 

'  For  the  ciivuui.~taiu-<-<  of  the  persei.utiun  in   Scotland,  soiv  Wcidrow'ri  flis 


ON   PERSECUTION.  49 

Government,  or  the  zealous  advocates  of  episcopacy,  who 
manifested  this  spirit.  When  the  Reformation  triumphed  in 
Scotland,  one  of  its  first  fruits  was  a  law  prohibiting  any 
priest  from  celebrating,  or  any  worshipper  from  hearing  mass, 
under  pain  of  the  confiscation  of  his  goods  for  the  first  of- 
fence, of  exile  for  the  second,  and  of  death  for  the  third.1 
That  the  Queen  of  Scotland  should  be  permitted  to  hear 
mass  in  her  own  private  chapel,  was  publicly  denounced  as 
an  intolerable  evil.  '  One  mass,'  exclaimed  Knox,  '  is  more 
fearful  to  me  than  if  10,000  armed  enemies  were  landed  in 
any  part  of  the  realm.' 2  In  France,  when  the  government 
of  certain  towns  was  conceded  to  the  Protestants,  they  im- 
mediately employed  their  power  to  suppress  absolutely  the 
Catholic  worship,  to  prohibit  any  Protestant  from  attend 
ing  a  marriage  or  a  funeral  that  was  celebrated  by  a  priest, 
to  put  down  all  mixed  marriages,  and  to  persecute  to  the 
full  extent  of  their  power  those  who  had  abandoned  their 
creed.3  In  S\veden,  all  Avlio  dissented  from  any  article  of 
the  Confession  of  Augsburg  were  at  once  banished.4  In 
Protestant  Switzerland  numerous  Anabaptists  perished  by 
drowning;  the  freethinker  Gentilis  by  the  axe;  Servetus, 
and  a  convert  to  Judaism,  by  the  flames.  In  America,  the 
colonists  who  were  driven  from  their  own  land  by  per>ecu- 
tion,  not  only  proscribed  the  Catholics,  but  also  persecuted 
the  Quakers  —  the  most  inoffensive  of  all  sects  —  with 
atrocious  sevcritv.6  If  Holland  was  somewhat  more  tolcr- 


1  Buckle,  Hist.,  vol.  ii.  p.  ii:)l;  McKen/ic,  JM»-S  of 


1  McCrie,  Life  of  K,,ox  (oil.  l>4"i,  p.  l-'ir.. 


1  Much  evidence  of  this  is  collected  in  P.urklc,  vol.  i.  pp.  .~)0(,1-323, 
*  Macaulay,  JKssai/s,  vol.  ii.  p.  Mu  ;   Lainu',  $<cet.le>i. 
Soe  the  history,  iu  Bancroft. 
20 


50  KATIOXAJLIbM   IN    ETTlOrE. 

ant,  it  was  early  remarked,  that  while  the  liberty  allowed 
there  was  unusually  great,  the  power  accorded  to  the  clergy 
was  unusually  small.1  As  late  as  1690  a  synod  was  held  at 
Amsterdam,  consisting  partly  of  Dutch  and  partly  of  French 
and  English  ministers  who  were  driven  to  Holland  by  perse- 
cution, and  in  that  synod  the  doctrine  that  the  magistrate 
has  no  right  to  crush  heresy  and  idolatry  by  the  civil  power, 
was  unanimously  pronounced  to  be  'false,  scandalous,  and 
pernicious.' 2  When  Descartes  wont  to  Holland,  the  reformed 
clergy  directed  against  him  all  the  force  of  their  animosity, 
and  the  accusation  by  which  they  endeavoured  to  stir  up  the 
civil  power  against  the  author  of  the  most  sublime  of  all 
modern  proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  Deity,  was  atheism.' 
The  right  of  the  civil  magistrate  to  punish  heresy  was  main- 
tained by  the  Helvetic,  Scottish,  Belgic,  and  Saxon  Confes- 
sions.4 Luther,  in  reply  to  Philip  of  Hesse,  distinctly  assert- 
ed it ;  B  Calvin,  Be/a,  and  Jurieu,  all  wrote  books  on  the 
awfulness  of  persecution.  Knox,  appealing  to  the  Old  Tes 
:  ament,  declared  that  those  who  were  guilty  of  idolary  might 
justly  be  put  to  death.*  Cranmer  and  Ridley,  as  well  as  four 

1  Temple,  On  the  United  Provinces. 

a  Bayle,  art.  Attyu-stinf,  note  n.  See,  too,  on  the  general  intolerance  of  the 
Dutch  clergy,  Hallam,  Hist,  of  Lit.,  vol.  Hi.  p.  289. 

3  Biog.    L'>tii'.,    art.    Descartes;    Voltaire,     Lttlrcs    PJiUosopliiques,    xiv. 
Considering  the  writings  of  Descartes,  this  is  perhaps   the  most  preposterous 
accusation  ever  brought  against  a  philosopher,  if  we  except  one  of  which  Lin- 
naeus was  the  victim.     Some  good  people  in  Sweden  desired,  it  is  said,  to  have 
his  system  of  botany  suppressed,  because  it  was  based  upon  the  discovery  of 
the  si  .vcs  of  the  plants,  and  was  therefore  calculated  to  inflame  the  minds  of 
youth,     ((ii.ija,  J-Hoxnftit  dillii  S/a!ixtic<i,  toin.  ii.  p.  SS'.1.) 

4  J'almer,   On  tli>    Chun-h,  vol.  i.  p.  ."SO. 

6  And  also  in  ivply  to  the  Wittenberg  theologians.  At  an  earlier  period, 
when  his  translation  <if  the  Xew  Te-tument  was  proscribed,  he  laid  advocated 
ta'erution.  For  a  full  view  of  hi~  sentiments,  see  Henry's  Life  of  Culv/n,  voL 
il  pp.  282-242. 

6  llei'rlu'?  I'll'*  of  Kt,ax,  p.  '-(0.     I'  is  m  his  AfijcUunon  that  this  great 


ON    PERSECUTION.  51 

Mlier  bishops,  formed  the  commission  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
VI.  for  trying  Anabaptists ;  and,  if  we  may  believe  Fox,  it 
was  only  by  the  long  and  earnest  solicitation  of  Cramner  that 
Edward  consented  to  sign  the  warrant  that  consigned  Joan 
Bocher  to  the  flames.1  The  only  two  exceptions  to  this 
spirit  among  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation,  seem  to  hare 

'been  Zuinglius  and  Socinus.  The  first  was  always  averse  to 
i 

persecution.2  The  second  was  so  distinctively  the  apostle  of 
toleration,  that  this  was  long  regarded  as  one  of  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  his  sect.'  With  these  exceptions,  all  the  leading 

apostle  of  murder  most  fully  expounded  his  views :  '  None  provoking  the 
people  to  idolatrie  oght  to  be  exempted  from  the  punishment  of  death.  .  .  . 
The  whole  tribes  did  in  veric  dede  execute  that  sharp  judgement  against  the 
tribe  of  Benjamin  for  a  lesse  offense  than  for  idolatrie.  And  the  same  oght  to 
be  done  wheresoever  Christ  Jesus  and  his  Evangill  is  so  receaved  in  any 
realme  province  or  citie  that  the  magistrates  and  people  have  solemnly  avowed 
and  promised  to  defend  the  same,  as  under  King  Edward  of  late  days  was  done 
in  England.  In  such  places,  I  say,  it  is  not  only  lawful  to  punish  to  the  death 
such  as  labour  to  subvert  the  true  religion,  but  the  magistrates  and  people  are 
bound  to  do  so  onless  they  wil  provoke  the  wrath  of  God  against  themselves. 
.  .  And  therefore,  my  Lordes,  to  return  to  you,  seing  that  God  hath 
armed  your  handes  with  the  sworde  of  justice,  suing  that  His  law  most  streatly 
commandeth  idolaters  and  fals  prophetes  to  be  punished  with  death,  and  that 
you  be  placed  above  your  subjects  to  reigno  as  fathers  over  their  children,  and 
further  seiug  that  not  only  I,  but  with  me  inanie  thousand  famous,  godlio,  and 
learned  persons,  accuse  your  Bvshoppes  and  the  whole  rabbit,'  of  the  Papistical 
cleririe  of  idolatrie,  of  murtlier,  and  of  blasphcmie  against  God  committed  :  it 
appertained!  to  your  Honours  to  be  vigilant  and  carefull  in  so  iveLhtie  a  mat- 
ter. The  question  is  not  of  earthly  substance,  hut  of  the  glorie  of  God,  -md 
of  the  salvation  of  yourselves.'  (Knox's  111  »•/-.•.•,  Luir.g's  edition,  v.,1.  iv.  p;i. 
1)00-515.)  In  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Lords.  -Inly  15,  ISiil.  Lord  lloiighton 
stated,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  l-'nmde,  that  that  ueni],-tn:i:i  in  the  course  of 
bis  researches  had  discovered  addres.-i  s  from  both  houses  of  Convocation  to 
Queen  Eii/abeth,  requesting  her  to  pi:t  Mary  l^uvn  of  Scuts  to  death  a= 
quickly  as  possible,  which  she  mi_dit  ju-tly  do,  Mary  'heim:  an  idolater.' 

1  Xeal's  //;,?/ory  of  tlic  Puritans  (ed.  IT.Ui,  vol.  i.  pp.  4".  41. 

*  This  is  noticed  by  Ilallam  and  oilier  writers. 

8  Thus,  for   example,  .birieii,    the  great   antagonist    of    1!"--=:  t,   di.- 
eminent  French  minister  in   Holland  (he  was   pastor  of  Uotterdami.  ,\ivi  cer. 
tainlv  one  of  the  most  disthifrui-hcd  ]'roti-.-tants   of  his  day,   call-  L-OJ 


52  KATIOXAUSM   IX   EUROPE. 

Reformers  seem  to  have  advocated  persecution,  and  in  nearlj 
every  country  where  their  boasted  Reformation  triumphed, 
the  result  is  to  be  mainly  attributed  to  coercion.1  When 
Calvin  burnt  Servetus  for  his  opinions  on  the  Trinity,  this, 
•which,  in  the  words  of  a  great  modern  historian,  'had  per- 
haps as  many  circumstances  of  aggravation  as  any  execution 
for  heresy  that  ever  took  place,' "  was  almost  unanimously  ap- 
plauded by  all  sections  of  Protestants.3  Melanchthon,  Bui- 
linger,  and  Farel  wrote  to  express  their  warm  approbation 
of  the  crime.  Beza  defended  it  in  an  elaborate  treatise. 

toleration,  'ce  dogme  Socinien,  le  plug  dangereux  de  tons  ceux  de  la  secto 
Socinienne,  puisqu'il  va  h  miner  le  Christianisrae  et  a  etablir  1'indiffcrcnce  des 
religions.'  (Droits  des  deux  Souverains  en  Matitre  de  Religion,  la  Conscienct 
et  V Experience  [Rotterdam,  1687],  p.  14.)  This  work  is  anonymous,  but  there 
is,  I  believe,  no  doubt  about  its  authorship.  It  was  written  in  reply  to  the 
Contrains-les  d'cntrer  of  Bayle,  with  the  rather  unnecessary  object  of  showing 
that  the  French  Protestants  repudiated  the  tolerant  maxims  of  that  great 
writer. 

1  I  commend  the  following  passage  to  the  special  attention  of  my  readers : 
'Peut-on  nier  que  le  paganisrae  est  tornbe  dans  le  moinle  par  1'autorite  des 
empereurs  Remains  ?  On  pout  assurer  sans  temcrite  que  le  paganisme  seroit 
encore  de-bout,  et  que  les  trois  quarts  de  1'Europe  seroieut  encore  pay  ens  si 
Constantin  et  ses  succes-eurs  n'avoient  emploie  leur  autorite  pour  Tabolir. 
Mais,  je  vous  prie,  de  quellcs  voies  Dieu  s'est-il  servi  clans  ces  demiers  siecles 
pour  retablir  la  veritable  religion  dans  1'Occident  ?  Les  rois  de  Suede,  ceux  de 
Danemarck,  ceux  d'Angleierre,  les  magistrates  souverains  de  Suisse,  des  Pais- 
Bas,  des  villes  lihres  d'Allemagne,  les  princes  eleeteurs,  et  .nitres  princes 
HDiiverains  de  lY.mpire,  n'ont-ils  pas  emploie  leur  autoiite  pour  ubbatre  iu 
Papisme  '?  En  verite  il  1'aut  etre  bien  teme'raire  pour  condamner  des 

voies  dont  la  Providence  s'est  constarameiit  servi  pour  etablir  la  veritable  re- 
ligion ;  except e  le  p'-emier  etablissemcnt  du  Christianisme,  et  ?a  conservation, 
:iaus  laquelle  Dieu  a  voulu  qu'il  y  cut  un  miracle  sensible:  cYst  rourquoi  il 
n'a  pas  voulu  que  1'autoritc  sYjn  nn'-lat;  exee]ite,  dis-je,  Cet  ondroit  de  1'hi-J- 
toire  d;>  rK;_'!ise,  on  voit  constaminent  jiartmit  que  Dieu  fait  entrcr  1'autorite 
pour  etablir  la  veritable  reliuinn  et  |iour  miner  les  fatissos.?  (Th"i!  Jc*  >?i>>'3 
Simi'erfii/'.s,  pp.  ^.Mi-2v>^.1 

'*  Hallam,  7//V.  of  LWral-.rr.  vol.  j.  ;-,.  5 .-,4. 

3  See  the  collection  d'  appnjbatiims  iii'.oi-.'d  by  15e/a.  .77t  ll.ir'H -ix;  ?f-  Ken 
rie.  Life  f>f  Cn'i'in.  ]>p.  70-^'.*;  ^nd  the  remarks  in  ( 'nieridge,  A'-^s  on  K/iff 
itfi  Divides,  vol.  i.  p.  4?. 


ON    PERSECUTION.  53 

Only  one  man  of  eminence  ventured  openly  to  oppose  it,  and 
that  man,  who  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  avowed  champion 
of  complete  religious  liberty,  was  also  one  of  the  most  eminent 
of  the  precursors  of  rationalism.  He  wrote  under  the  name 
of  Martin  Bellius,  but  his  real  name  was  Chutillon,  or,  as  it 
was  generally  latinised,  Castellio.1 

Castellio  was  a  Frenchman,  a  scholar  of  remarkable  ac- 
quirements, and  a  critic  of  still  more  remarkable  boldness, 
lie  had  been  at  one  time  a  friend  of  Calvin,  and  had  filled  a 
professorship  at  Geneva,  but  the  daring  spirit  which  he 
Carried  into  every  sphere  soon  scandalised  the  leaders  of  the 
Reformation.  Having  devoted  himself  early  to  Biblical 
criticism,  he  had  translated  the  Bible  into  Latin,  and  in  the 
course  of  his  labours  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Song 
of  Solomon  was  simply  a  Jewish  love  song,  and  that  the 
allegory  that  was  supposed  to  underlie  it  was  purely  imagi- 
nary.* A  still  graver  offence  in  the  eyes  of  the  Geneva  tlieo- 

1  His  name  was  originally  Chatillon  or  Chateillon,  which,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  age,  In:  latinised  into  Custellio  ;  l,nt  at  the  beginning  of  his  carver, 
some  one  having  called  him  l>y  mistake  Castalio,  he  was  so  charmed  by  the 
name,  which,  by  reminding  him  of  the  Castaliar,  fount,  seemed  a  irood  augury 
for  his  literary  career,  that  he  adopted  it.  See,  for  a  full  account  of  his  life, 
Bayle,  art.  C'.tstidio,  and  Henry,  Life  <>f  Ca'c'ii  ;  and,  for  a  short  notice,  llal- 
luni,  Hint,  of  Litrrrcfi'rc,  vol.  i.  p.  ."57.  Besides  the  work's  I  have  noticed  in 
the  text,  Castalio  translated  the  dialogues  of  the  famous  Socinian  Ochino,  and 
an  anonymous  German  work  of  the  mystical  school  of  Tauler,  edited  the  Sibyl- 
•ine  verses  (his  preface  is  Driven  to  the  recent  edition  by  Alexander  [Tarn, 
1846]),  wrote  a  defence  of  his  translation  of  the  liible  (\\hich  tr.m.-lauon 
seems  to  have  been  an  indillerent  performance),  and  publUhed  some  minor 
cssavs  or  dialogues. 

"  From  wliicli  he  somewhat  vaslily  concluded  t!i;it  it  ought  not  to  be  !•> 
lainod  in  the  Bible.  Tor  my  part,'  said  Xiebuln.  when  a  voting  German  pas- 
tor t.'xpressed  his  scruples  about  ivadiiii:  \\hat  hr  believed  to  be  simplv  a  love 
Bong,  'I  should  deem  the  Bible  it>elf  imperfect  if  it  did  not  include  an  expres- 
sion of  the  deepest  and  strongest  paSMoii  of  humanity.'  The  history  of  the  in- 
terpretations  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  would  be  Ion--  and  ciirio;is — from  the 
Jewish  Cabalists,  who.  iviraniinL:  he,i\r;i  a>  the  union  of  man  with  ihe  J'tity  h\ 


54  RATIONALISM   IK   EUROPE. 

logians  was  his  emphatic  repudiation  of  the  Calvinistic  doc- 
trine of  predestination.  He  assailed  it  not  so  much  by  any 
train  of  arguments,  or  by  an  appeal  to  authority,  as  on  the 
broad  grounds  of  its  repugnance  to  our  sense  of  right,  and  he 
developed  its  moral  atrocity  in  a  manner  that  elicited  from 
Beza  a  torrent  of  almost  frantic  invective.  Driven  from 
Geneva,  he  at  last  obtained  a  professorship  at  Basle,  where 
he  denounced  the  murder  of  Servetus,  and  preached  for  the 
first  time  in  Christendom  the  duty  of  absolute  toleration, 
based  upon  the  rationalistic  doctrine  of  the  innocence  of  error. 
The  object  of  doctrines,  he  said,  is  to  make  men  better,  and 
those  which  do  not  contribute  to  this  end  are  absolutely  un- 
important. The  history  of  dogmas  should  be  looked  upon  as 
a  series  of  developments,  contributing  to  the  moral  perfection 
of  mankind.  First  of  all,  polytheism  was  supreme.  Christ 
came  and  effected  the  ascendency  of  monotheism,  in  which 
Jews,  Turks,  and  Christians  all  agree.  Christianity  again 
introduced  a  specific  type  of  character,  of  which  universal 
charity  and  beneficence  were  the  leading  features.  Questions 
•oncerning  the  Trinity,  or  predestination,  or  the  sacraments, 
are  involved  in  great  and  perhaps  impenetrable  obscurity, 
and  have  no  moral  influence,  and  ought  in  consequence  not 
to  be  insisted  upon.  '  To  discuss  the  difference  between  the 
Law  and  the  Gospel,  gratuitous  remission  of  sins  or  imputed 
righteousness,  is  as  if  a  man  were  to  discuss  whether  a  prince 
\vas  to  come  on  horseback,  or  in  a  chariot,  or  dressed  in 
'.vhito  or  in  red.'  '  To  persecute  for  such  questions  is  absurd, 

love,  and  death  ns  the  'kiss  of  Clod, :  esteemed  the  Song  of  Solomon  tbehiirhcst 
expression  of  this  transcendental  union,  to  the  somewhat  fantastic  criticisms  of 
M.  Renan. 

1  On  \vhieh  J'exa  fommi-nts  :  'line  impiet.ite  quid  tandem  mngis  impium 
ant  dmbolirum  ip.-;«  unqiiam  iufcriorem  portie  exluilarunt.'  ( De  Hiercti'-is  a 
riritl.  M<i;/'»striit,i  pmn, •„,!;*:  I.',!,,!!,,*  firfrrrKim  M^rl'n,',  JitVu  fn-ffoijlucm  ft 
X'jcnnun  Acfi'lciiti'-nrttiit  wlnm  I  1 -",:;!  '.  •  .  .->*.) 


ON    PERSECUTION.  i)i) 

and  not  only  absurd  but  atrocious.  For  if  the  end  of  Chris- 
tianity be  the  diffusion  of  a  spirit  of  beneficence,  persecution 
must  be  its  extreme  antithesis  ;  and  if  persecution  be  an  essen- 
tial element  of  a  religion,  that  religion  must  be  a  curse  to 
mankind.1 

Such  new  and  startling  sentiments  as  these,  coming  from 
a  writer  of  considerable  eminence,  attracted  much  attention, 
and  aroused  great  indignation.  Both  Calvin  and  Beza 
replied  in  a  strain  of  the  fiercest  invective.  Calvin  especially, 
from  the  time  when  Castellio  left  Geneva,  pursued  him  with 
untiring  hatred,  laboured  hard  to  procure  his  expulsion  from 
Basle,  denounced  him  in  the  preface  to  an  edition  of  the  Xcw 
Testament5  as  '  one  who  had  been  chosen  by  Satan  to  deceive 
the  thoughtless  and  indifferent,'  and  attempted  to  blast  his 
character  by  the  grossest  calumnies.  In  the  friendship  of 

1  '  Quis  non  putct  Christum  aliquem  csse  Molochum  ant  ejus  generis  aliiiuem 
Deurn  si  sibi  vivos  homines  immolari,  eomburique  velit  ?  Quis  relit  servire 
Ohristo  ei  conditione,  ut  si  in  aliquu  re  inter  tot  controvorsias  ab  iis  dissideat, 
qui  habcnt  in  alios  potestatem,  virus  comburatur  ipsius  Clivisti  jussu  erndeliud 
quain  in  tauro  Phalaridis,  etiamsi  in  inediis  flannnis  Christum  magiia.  roee 
concelcbret,  ct  so  in  cum  plciio  ore  credere  vocifcrctur  ?'  (Preface  of  Martin 
Jk'llius  in  Joachim  Cluten's  De  Ilatreticis  pcrsfqucndis,  ed.  ltjl»">.)  This  work 
consists  of  a  collection  of  passages  from  different  authors  (two  of  them  by  ('as- 
tdlio)  in  favour  of  toleration. 

"  Sec  liarle  and  Henry.  Castellio,  when  publishing  his  edition  of  the  Uiblc, 
made  the  preface  the  vehicle  of  a  warm  appeal  for  toleration  (which  is  given  in 
Gluten).  Calvin,  among  other  things,  accused  him  of  stealing  wood  for  his  lire 
— an  accusation  which  was  solemnly  refuted.  1'ayle  has  collected  much  evi- 
dence to  show  that  Custellio  was  a  man  of  spotless  character,  singularly  lured 
by  those  about  him,  intensely  amiable,  keenly  sensible  of  the  attacks  of  which 
he  was  the  object.  Castellio  has  himself  made  a  collection  of  the  epithets  Cal- 
vin in  one  short  work  heaped  upon  him  :  '  Vocas  me  subinde  in  <iallieo  libello: 
blasphemutn,  ealtimniatorcm,  inalignum,  eanem  latrantem,  plenum  ignorant!™ 
et  bestialitatis,  saerarum  literarum  iui]iurum  corruptoivm,  l>ei  ptoi'Mi-  >!rri-i>- 
•em,  oimiis  religionis  enntemptorem,  impudentcm,  impui-ina  eanem,  impi!;i!i, 
obseoHium,  torti  perversique  inirenii,  ragum,  balatronciu,  ncbiiloncin  vcm  \\\\- 
pellas  octics;  et  hiec  onmia  longe  eopiosius  qu.nn  a  me  reeeiiseiinn  faci-  in  li- 
bello duorutn  foliovum  et  quiiiem  perparvorum.' 


56  EATIONALISM   IS    EUEOPE. 

Socinus,  Castellio  found  some  compensation  for  the  general 
hatred  of  which  he  was  the  object,  and  he  appears  to  have 
inclined  greatly  to  the  doctrines  of  his  friend.  Separated 
alike  from  the  Protestants  and  the  Catholics,  his  prospects  in 
life  were  blighted,  he  sank  into  a  condition  of  absolute  desti- 
tution, and  is  said  to  have  been  almost  reduced  to  literal 
starvation,  when  death  relieved  him  of  his  sufferings.  A  few 
kindly  sentences  of  Montaigne,1  who  pronounced  his  closing 
scene  to  have  been  a  disgrace  to  mankind,  have  in  some 
degree  rescued  this  first  apostle  of  toleration  from  oblivion. 

Some  years  after  the  murder  of  Servetus,  Beza,  in  relating 
its  circumstances,  declared  that  Castellio  and  Socinus  were 
the  only  men  who  had  opposed  it ; 2  and  although  this  state- 
ment is  not  strictly  true,3  it  but  very  little  exaggerates  the 

1  Easalx,  liv.  i.  c.  34. 

"  Beza,  Vita  Culvini. 

3  It  is  sufficiently  refuted  by  Beza  himself  in  his  answer  to  Castellio,  when 
he  speaks  of  those  who  objected  to  the  burning  of  Servetus  (he  calls  them 
'emissaries  of  Satan')  as  amounting  to  a  sect.  He  also  specifies  two  or  three 
writers,  of  whom  the  principal  seems  to  have  been  Clebcrgius.  I  have  never 
been  able  to  meet  with  the  work  of  this  author,  but  Beza  represents  him  as 
objecting  absolutely  to  all  forms  of  persecution,  and  basing  this  objection  on 
the  absolute  innocence  of  honest  error ;  which  doctrine  again  he  rested  on  the 
impossibility  of  ascertaining  certainly  religious  truths,  as  demonstrated  by  the 
continuance  of  controversy.  The  following  passages  quoted  by  Beza  are  ex- 
tremely remarkable  for  the  age  :  '  De  controversiis  nondum  certo  oonstat ;  si 
eniin  constaret  disputari  dcfuisset.'  '  Xonne  Dcus  eos  amabit  qui  id  quod  verum 
esse  putant  defenderint  bona  fide?  Etiam  si  forte  erraverint, nonne  eis  veniam 
dabit  ? '  (Beza,  pp.  C5,  93.)  Ilallam  has  also  exhumed  three  or  four  books  or 
pamphlets  that  were  written  at  the  same  time  in  favour  of  toleration.  Acontiua 
(Acanacioi  seems  to  h.ivc  been  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  these  authors. 
Ilallam  say.-  (Hixf.  of  J.itcrn(nrt)  his  book  is,  'perhaps,  the  first  wherein  the 
limitation  of  fundamental  articles  of  Christianity  to  a  small  number  is  laid  down 
at  cox-i  lerable  length.  lie  in-tanccs  among  doctrines  which  he  does  not 
reckon  fundamental,  those  of  tin.-  l!e,d  I'tv-seiice  and  of  the  Tnmiy.'  Acomius 
was  born  at  Trent,  lie  adouted  sceptical  or  indill'crent  opinions,  verging  on 
Socmianisin  ;  he  took  refuge  in  Kugland,  and  received  a  pension  from  Elizabeth. 
There  is  a  full  notice  of  him  in  an  anonymous  J-'ivnch  hi-tmT  of  Socinianism  of 


ON    PERSECUTION.  57 

unanimity  that  was  displayed.  When  \ve  recollect  the  great 
notoriety  of  this  execution,  and  also  its  aggravated  character,, 
eo  general  an  approbation  seems  to  show  clearly  not  only 
that  the  spirit  of  early  Protestantism  was  as  undoubtedly 
intolerant  as  the  spirit  of  Catholicism,  which  is  an  unques- 
tionable fact,  but  also  that  it  flinched  as  little  from  the 
extreme  consequences  to  which  intolerance  leads.  It  seems 
to  show  that  the  comparative  mildness  of  Protestant  persecu- 
tions results  nmch  more  from  the  circumstances  under  which 
they  took  place,  than  from  any  sense  of  the  atrocity  of  burn- 
ing the  heretic.  And,  indeed,  while  the  Romish  persecutions 
were  undoubtedly  unrivalled  in  magnitude,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  there  are  some  aspects  under  which  they  con- 
trast not  unfavourably  with  the  Protestant  ones.  Catholi- 
cism was  an  ancient  Church.  She  had  gained  a  great  part  of 
her  influence  by  vast  services  to  mankind.  She  rested  avow- 
edly upon  the  principle  of  authority.  She  was  defending 
herself  against  aggression  and  innovation.  That  a  Church  so 
circumstanced  should  endeavour  to  stifle  in  blood  every 
aspiration  towards  a  purer  system,  was  indeed  a  fearful 
crime,  but  it,  was  a  crime  which  was  not  altogether  unnatural. 
She  might  point  to  the  priceless  blessings  she  had  bestowed 
upon  humanity,  to  the  slavery  she  had  destroyed,  to  the 
civilisation  she  had  founded,  to  the  many  generations  she 
had  led  with  honour  to  the  grave.  She  might  show  how 
completely  her  doctrines  were  interwoven  with  the  whole 
social  system,  how  fearful  would  be  the  convulsion  it'  they 

»ery  px-at  rc~t\i:vh  (17*2:.'),  ascribed  to  dim-hard  or  to  T.ainy  ('pp.  2*u-'2''4) 
The  hand  of  Socinus  was  siispirro'l  in  some  of  tlicso  works.  That  of  IMliu? 
was  by  sonic  ascribed  to  him.  So,  too,  was  a  work  7iow  attributed  to  an  author 
named  Minos  Col  so,  concern'mii  whom  scarcely  anything  is  known,  except  that, 
like  Sociuu  ;,  he  was  born  at  Sienna.  (See  Ri"fj.  l'>i>»,,  arts,  .vrc./w  and 
CeUo.} 


58  KATIOXALI&SI    ENT    EUEOl'E. 

were  destroyed,  and  how  absolutely  incompatible  they  were 
with  the  acknowledgment  of  private  judgment.  These  con- 
siderations would  not  make  her  blameless,  but  they  would 
at  least  palliate  her  guilt.  But  what  shall  we  say  of  a 
Church  that  was  but  a  thing  of  yesterday,  a  Church  that  had 
as  yet  no  services  to  show,  no  claims  upon  the  gratitude  of 
mankind,  a  Church  that  was  by  profession  the  creature  of  pri- 
vate judgment,  and  was  in  reality  generated  by  the  intrigues 
of  a  corrupt  court,  which,  nevertheless,  suppressed  by  force  a 
worship  that  multitudes  deemed  necessary  to  their  salvation, 
and  by  all  her  organs,  and  with  all  her  energies,  persecuted 
those  who  clung  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers  ?  "What  shall 
we  say  of  a  religion  which  comprised  at  most  but  a  fourth 
part  of  the  Christian  world,  and  which  the  first  explosion 
of  private  judgment  had  shivered  into  countless  sects,  which 
was,  nevertheless,  so  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  dogmatism 
that  each  of  these  sects  asserted  its  distinctive  doctrines  with 
the  same  confidence,  and  persecuted  Avith  the  same  unhes- 
itating virulence,  as  a  Church  that  was  venerable  with  the 
homage  of  more  than  twelve  centuries '?  "What  shall  we  say 
of  men  who,  in  the  name  of  religious  liberty,  deluged  their 
land  with  blood,  trampled  on  the  very  first  principles  of 
patriotism,  calling  in  strangers  to  their  assistance,  and  openly 
rejoicing  in  the  disasters  of  their  country,  and  who,  when 
they  at  last  attained  their  object,  immediately  established  a 
religious  tyranny  as  absolute  as  that  which  they  had  sub- 
verted ?  These  were  the  altitudes  which  for  more  than  a. 
century  Protestantism  uniformly  presented  ;  and  so  strong 
and  so  general  was  its  intolerance  that  for  some  time  it  may, 
I  believe,  be  truly  said  that  there  were  more  instances  of 
partial  toleration  being  advocated  by  Roman  Catholics  than 
by  orthodox  Protestants.  Although  nothing-  can  be  more 


ON   PERSECUTION  59 

cgregiously  absurd  than  to  represent  the  Inquisition  as  some- 
thing unconnected  with  the  Church,  although  it  was  created 
by  a  pope,  and  introduced  into  the  chief  countries  of  Europe 
by  the  sovereigns  who  were  most  devoted  to  the  Church, 
ami  composed  of  ecclesiastics,  and  directed  to  the  punish- 
ment of  ecclesiastical  offences,  and  developed  in  each  country 
according  to  the  intensity  of  Catholic  feeling,  and  long 
regarded  as  the  chief  bulwark  of  Catholicity — although  all 
the  atrocities  it  perpetrated  do  undoubtedly  fall  upon  the 
blood-stained  Church  that  created  it — it  is  nevertheless  true 
that  one  or  two  popes  endeavoured  to  moderate  its  severities, 
and  reproved  the  excesses  of  Torquemada  in  language  that  is 
not  without  something  of  evangelical  mildness.  Erasmus, 

O  O  t 

too,  at  all  times  endeavoured  to  assuage  the  persecution,  and 
Erasmus  lived  and  died  in  communion  with  the  Church. 
Sir  Thomas  More,  though  he  was  himself  a  persecutor,  at 
least  admitted  the  abstract  excellence  of  toleration,  and 
extolled  it  in  his  Utopia.  Hopital,  and  Lord  Baltimore,  the 
Catholic  founder  of  Maryland,  were  the  two  first  legislators 
who  uniformly  upheld  religious  liberty  when  in  power;  and 
Maryland  continued  (lie  solitary  r<  luge  for  the  oppressed  of 
every  Christian  sect,  till  the  Protestant  parry,  who  were  in 
the  ascendant  in  its  legislature,  basely  enacted  the  whole 
penal  code  against  the  coreligionists  of  the  founder  of  the 
colonv.  But  among  the  Protestants  it  may,  1  believe,  be 
safelv  affirmed,  that  there  was  no  example  of  the  consi>tent 
advocacy  or  practice  of  toleration  in  the  sixteenth  centnry 
tliat  was  not  virulently  and  generally  denounced  by  all  .sections 
of  the  clergy,1  and  scarcely  any  till  the  mid. He  of  the  seven- 


60  RATIONALISM   tNT   EUROPE- 

teenth  century.  Indeed,  even  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  Bossuet  was  able  to  maintain  that  the  right  of  the 
civil  magistrate  to  punish  religious  error  was  one  of  the 
points  on  which  both  churches  agreed ;  and  he  added  that  he 
only  knew  two  bodies  of  Christians  who  denied  it.  They 
were  the  Socinians  and  the  Anabaptists.1 

It  is  often  said  that  Protestantism  in  its  earlier  days 
persecuted,  because  it  had  inherited  something  of  the  princi- 
ples of  Rome ;  but  that  persecution  was  entirely  uncongenial 
with  its  character,  and  was  therefore  in  course  of  time  aban- 
doned. In  a  certain  sense,  this  is  undoubtedly  true.  Prot- 

proposition,  that  men  for  holding  or  declaring  heterodox  opinions  in  religion 
should  not  be  burned  alive  or  otherwise  put  to  death,  was  itself  little  else  than 
a  sort  of  heterodoxy ;  and  though  many  privately  must  have  been  persuaded 
of  its  truth,  the  Protestant  churches  were  as  far  from  acknowledging  it  as  that 
of  Korne.  No  one  had  yet  pretended  to  assert  the  general  right  of  religious 
worship,  which,  in  fact,  was  rarely  or  never  conceded  to  the  Romanists  in  a 
Protestant  country,  though  the  Huguenots  shed  oceans  of  blood  to  secure  the 
same  privilege  for  themselves.'  (Hallam,  Hist,  of  Literature,  vol.  i.  p.  559.) 
The  same  judicious  historian  elsewhere  says  :  '  Persecution  is  the  deadly  orig- 
inal sin  of  the  Reformed  churches,  that  which  cools  every  honest  man's  zeal 
for  their  cause  in  proportion  as  his  reading  becomes  more  extensive.'  (Const. 
Hixt.  vol.  i.  eh.  2.) 

1  '  La  discipline  de  uos  Reformes  pennet  aussi  le  recours  au  bras  seculier 
en  certains  cas,  et  on  trouve  parmi  les  articles  de  la  discipline  de  1'Eglise  de 
Geneve  que  les  ministres  doivent  dt'ferer  au  magistral  U-3  incorrigibles  qui 
meprisent  les  peines  spirituclles,  et  en  particulicr  ecus  qui  enseignent  de  nou- 
veaux  dogmes  sans  distinction.  Et  encore  aujourd'lmi  celui  dc  tons  les  auteur? 
Calvinistes  qui  reproche  le  plus  aigrement  t\  1'Eglise  Rmnainc  la  cruaute  de  sa 
doctrine,  en  demeurc  d'aceord  dans  le  fond,  puisqu'il  perrnet  1'exercice  de  la 
puissance  du  glaive  dans  les  matieres  de  la  religion  et  de  la  conscience  (Jurieu, 
Sy*L  ii.  ch.  22,  23,  &e.) ;  chose  aussi  qui  ne  pent  etre  revoquec  en  doute  san.- 
enerver  et  comme  estropier  la  puissance  publique  ;  de  sorte  qu'il  n'y  a  point 
d'".lusion  plus  dangereusc  que  de  donncr  la  soufirance  pour  un  caractere  de  !a 
vraie  Kglise,  et  jo  ne  conuois  parmi  les  Chretiens  que  les  Soeiniens  et  les  Ana- 
baptistes  qui  s'oppo^ent  a  cette  doctrine.'  ( Variations  Protcstantes,  liv.  x,  <•. 
56.)  The  AnabuptiMs,  however,  were  not  always  so  tolerant,  and  oi/e  of  the 
earliest  rallying  cries  of  the  insurgents  of  Minister  was  :  '  Que  tous  non  re- 
Dar.tiscz  fassent  ir.is  :\  inort  comme  payens  et  nieschans.'  (Sleidan,  liv.  x."l 


ON    PERSECUTION.  61 

estA.ntism  received  the  doctrine  of  persecution  from  Rome, 
just  as  it  received  the  Athanasiaii  Creed  or  any  other  por- 
tion of  its  dogmatic  teaching.  The  doctrine  of  private  judg- 
ment is  inconsistent  with  persecution,  just  as  it  is  inconsistent 
with  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation,  and  with  the  univer- 
sal practice  of  all  sections  of  early  Protestants  in  their  deal- 
ings with  error.  If  man  is  bound  to  form  his  opinions  by  his 
private  judgment,  if  the  exercise  of  private  judgment  is  both 
a  duty  and  a  right,  it  is  absurd  to  prescribe  beforehand  the 
conclusion  to  which  he  must  arrive,  to  brand  honest  error  as 
criminal,  and  to  denounce  the  spirit  of  impartiality  and  of 
scepticism  as  offensive  to  the  Deity.  This  is  what  almost  all 
the  Protestant  leaders  did  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries,  and  what  a  very  large  proportion  of  them  still  do, 
and  it  was  out  of  this  conception  of  the  guilt  of  error  that 
persecution  arose.  Xothing  can  be  more  CITOIICOUS  than  to 
represent  it  as  merely  a  weapon  which  was  employed  in  :i 
moment  of  conflict,  or  as  the  outburst  of  a  natural  indigna- 
tion, or  as  the  unreasoning  observance  of  an  old  tradition. 
Persecution  among  the  early  Protestants  was  a  distinct  ami 
definite  doctrine,  digested  into  elaborate  treatises,  indissolu- 
bly  connected  with  a  large  portion  of  the  received  theology, 
developed  by  the  most  enlightened  and  far-seeing  theologians, 
and  enforced  against  the  most  inoffensive  as  against  the  most 
formidable  sects.  It  was  the  doctrine  of  the  palmiest  days 
of  Protestantism.  It  was  taught  by  those  who  are  justly 
esteemed  the  greatest  of  its  leaders.  It  was  manifested  most 
clearly  in  those  classes  which  were  most  deeply  imbued  with 
its  dogmatic  teaching.  The  Episcopalians  generally  justified 
it  by  appealing  to  St.  Augustine,  and  Calvin  and  the  Scotch 
Puritans  by  appealing  to  the  Old  Testament  :  but  in  both 
rases  the  dominating  and  controlliii'.r  cau-e  wa<  (he  'M  li«  f  in 


fi2  RATIONALISM   IX    EUROPE. 

exclusive  salvation  and  in  the  guilt  of  error ;  and  in  all  coun- 
tries the  first  dawning  of  tolerance  represents  the  rise  of  that 
rationalistic  spirit  which  regards  doctrines  simply  as  the 
vehicles  of  moral  sentiments,  and  which,  while  it  greatly 
diminishes  their  value,  simplifies  their  character  and  lessens 
their  number. 

The  evidence  I  have  accumulated  will  be  sufficient  to  show 
how  little  religious  liberty  is  due  to  Protestantism  considered 
as  a  dogmatic  system.  It  might  appear  also  to  show  that 
the  influence  of  the  Reformation  upon  its  development  was 
but  small.  Such  a  conclusion  would,  however,  be  altogether 
erroneous;  for  although  that  influence  Avas  entirely  indirect, 
it  was  not  the  less  powerful.  To  the  Reformation  is  chiefly 
due  the  appearance  of  that  rationalistic  spirit  which  at  last 
destroyed  persecution.  By  the  events  that  followed  the  Ref- 
ormation, the  adherents  of  different  religious  creeds  became 
^0  mingled,  that  it  was  the  interest  of  a  large  proportion  of 
the  members  of  every  Church  to  advocate  toleration.  At  the 
Reformation,  too,  the  doctrine  of  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy 
was  assailed,  and  the  ministers  of  the  new  churches,  being 
drawn  into  more  intimate  communion  with  society,  were 
placed  in  circumstances  far  more  fitted  to  develop  the  kind- 
ly affections  than  the  circumstances  of  the  Catholic  priests  ; 
while  in  England,  at  least,  the  accomplishments  of  a  scholar 
and  the  refinement  of  a  gentleman,  blending  with  the  pure 
and  noble  qualities  of  a  religious  teacher,  have  produced  a 
clas*;  type  which  is  scarcely  sullied  by  fanaticism,  and  is  prob- 
ably, on  the  whole,  the  highest  as  it  is  the  most  winning 
that  lias  over  been  attained.  Besides  this,  the  Reformation 
produced  a  number  of  churches,  which  possessed  such  an 
amount  of  flexibility  1hat.  they  have  been  able  to  adapt  them- 
selves  to  the  requirements  of  the  ac^e.  while  Catholicism  con- 


ON   PERSECUTION.  63 

tinues  to  the  present  day  the  bitter  enemy  of  toleration.  The 
influence  of  the  first  three  facts  is,  I  think,  sufficiently  obvious. 
A  short  sketch  of  the  history  of  toleration  in  France  and 
England  will  clearly  establish  the  fourth. 

In  order  to  understand  the  history  of  religious  liberty, 
there  are  two  distinct  series  of  facts  to  be  considered.  There 
is  a  succession  of  intellectual  changes  which  destroyed  the 
conceptions  on  which  persecution  rests,  and  a  succession  of 
political  events  which  are  in  part  the  consequence  of  those 
changes,  but  which  also  react  powerfully  upon  their  cause. 
The  intellectual  basis  of  French  toleration  is  to  be  found  in 
that  great  sceptical  movement  which  originated  towards  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  which  at  last  triumphed 
in  the  Revolution.  In  no  other  country  had  that  movement 
been  so  powerful,  not  only  on  account  of  the  great  ability 
with  which  it  was  conducted,  but  also  from  the  curious  fact 
that  its  first  three  leaders  represented  three  entirely  different 
casts  of  mind,  and  acted  in  consequence  upon  three  different 
sections  of  society.  The  scepticism  of  Montaigne  was  that  of 
a  man  of  the  world;  the  scepticism  of  Descartes  \vas  that  of 
a  philosopher;  the  scepticism  of  Bayle  was  that  of  a  scholar. 
Montaigne,  looking  with  an  impartial  eye  on  the  immense 
variety  of  opinions  that  were  maintained  with  equal  confidence 
by  men  of  equal  ability,  and  judging  all  subjects  by  a  keen, 
worldly,  and  somewhat  superficial  common  sense,  arrived  at 
the  conclusion  that  it  was  hopeless  seeking  to  ascertain  what 
is  true;  that  such  a  task  transcended  the  limits  of  human 
powers;  and  that  it  was  the  part  of  a  wise  man  to  remain 
poised  with  an  indifferent  mind  between  opposing  sects.  As 
a  consequence  of  this,  he  taught  for  the  first  time,  or  almost 
for  the  first  time,  in  France,  the  innocence  of  error  and  the 
evil  of  persecution.  Descartes  had  a  far  greater  confidence  in 


64  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

human  faculties,  but  he  had  also  a  far  greater  distrust  of  the 
ordinary  judgments  of  experience.  He  taught  men  that  the 
beginning  of  all  wisdom  is  absolute,  universal  scepticism; 
that  all  the  impressions  of  childhood,  all  the  conclusions  of 
the  senses,  all  of  what  are  deemed  the  axioms  of  life,  must  be 
discarded,  and  from  the  simple  fact  of  consciousness  the  en- 
lire  scheme  of  knowledge  must  be  evolved.  Like  many  of 
the  greatest  philosophers,  Descartes  did  not  pause  to  apply 
his  principles  to  practical  life,  but  their  influence  was  not  the 
less  great.  The  scepticism  which  he  made  the  beginning  of 
wisdom,  and  the  purely  rational  process  by  which  that  scep- 
ticism was  at  last  dispelled,  were  alike  inconsistent  with  a 
system  which  esteemed  doubt  a  sin,  and  which  enforced  con- 
viction by  the  brand. 

The  intellect  of  Bayle  was  very  different  from  those  of  his 
predecessors,  and  was  indeed  in  some  respects  almost  unique. 
There  have  been  many  greater  men,  but  there  never  perhaps 
was  one  who  was  so  admirably  fitted  by  his  acquirements 
and  his  abilities,  and  even  by  the  very  defects  of  his  charac- 
ter, to  be  a  perfect  critic.  TVith  the  most  profound  and  varied 
knowledge  he  combined  to  an  almost  unrivalled  extent  that 
rare  faculty  of  assuming  the  standing-point  of  the  system  he 
was  discussing,  and  of  developing  its  arguments  as  they 
would  have  been  developed  by  its  most  skilful  advocate 
But  while  he  possessed  to  the  highest  degree  that  knowledge 
and  that  philosophical  perception  which  lay  bare  the  hidden 
springs  of  past  beliefs,  he  appeared  to  be  almost  absolutely 
destitute  of  the  creative  power,  and  almost  absolutely  indif- 
ferent to  the  results  of  controversy.  lie  denied  nothing.  He 
inculcated  nothing.  He  scarcely  exhibited  any  serious  pref- 
erence. It  was  hi-  delight  to  l>rinir  together  the  arguments 
of  manv  discordant  teachers,  to  dissect  and  anal vse  them  Avith 


OX   PERSECUTION'.  05 

the  most  exquisite  skill,  and  then  to  develop  them  till  they 
mutually  destroyed  one  another.  His  genius  was  never  so 
conspicuous  as  when  lighting  up  the  wrecks  of  opposing  sys- 
tems, exhuming  the  shattered  monuments  of  human  genius 
to  reveal  their  nothingness  and  their  vanity.  In  that  vast  re- 
pertory of  obscure  learning  from  which  Voltaire  and  every 
succeeding  scholar  have  drawn  their  choicest  weapons,  the 
most  important  and  the  most  insignificant  facts,  the  most 
sublime  speculations  to  which  man  can  soar,  and  the  most 
trivial  anecdotes  of  literary  biography,  lie  massed  together  in 
all  the  irony  of  juxtaposition,  developed  with  the  same  cold  but 
curious  interest,  and  discussed  with  the  same  withering  sardonic 
smile.  Xever  perhaps  Avas  there  a  book  that  evinced  more 
clearly  the  vanity  of  human  systems,  or  the  disintegrating 
power  of  an  exhaustive  enquiry.  To  such  a  writer  nothing 
could  be  more  revolting  than  an  exclusive  worship  of  one 
class  of  opinions,  or  a  forcible  suppression  of  any  of  ihe  ele- 
ments of  knowledge.  Intellectual  liberty  was  the  single  sub- 
ject which  kindled  his  cold  nature  into  something  resembling 
enthusiasm.  In  all  lie  wrote  he  was  its  earnest  and  unwaver- 
ing advocate,  and  he  diffused  his  own  passion  among  the 
scholars  and  antiquarians  of  whom  he  was  the  chief.  lie  had 
also  the  merit  of  doing  more  than  any  previous  writer  to 
break  the  spell  which  St.  Augustine  had  so  lon-j;  cast  over 
theology.  The  bitter  article  on  the  life  of  that  saint  was  well 
adapted  as  a  prelude  to  an  attack  upon  his  opinion.--. 

But  while  the  immense  learning  and  the  cxtraortlinat y 
ability  of  the  2>lcttonan/  of  Uayle  render  it  one  of  the  most 
important  pioneers  of  religious  liberty,  there  was  another 
work  in  which  the  same  author  applird  himself  more  din-rt- 
ly  to  the  advocacy  of  toleration.  1  mean  that  treati-e  <-n  the 
text  'Compel  them  to  enter  in,1  in  which,  ahandiining  tor 


66  KA.TIOXALISM   IX   EUROPE. 

once  the  negative  and  destructive  criticism  in  which  he  de- 
lighted, he  undertook  to  elucidate  the  bases  of  a  rational  be« 
lief.  This  book  may,  I  believe,  without  exaggeration,  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  theol- 
ogy during  the  seventeenth  century,  and  as  forming  more  than 
any  other  work  the  foundation  of  modern  rationalism.  While 
the  famous  argument  of  Tillotson  against  transubstantiation 
is  stated  as  forcibly  as  by  Tillotson,  and  the  famous  argument 
of  Chilling  worth  on  the  necessity  of  private  judgment  as  the 
basis  even  of  an  infallible  Church  as  forcibly  as  by  Chilling- 
worth,  the  main  principles  of  Kant's  great  work  on  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Bible  to  the  moral  faculty  are  fully  anticipated, 
and  are  developed  in  a  style  that  is  as  remarkable  for  its 
clearness,  as  that  of  the  German  philosopher  is  for  its  ob- 
scurity. At  the  beginning  of  this  work  Bayle  disclaims  any 
intention  of  entering  into  a  critical  examination  of  the  pas- 
sage that  he  had  taken  as  his  motto.  His  refutation  of  the 
persecutor's  interpretation  rests  not  on  any  detailed  criticism, 
but  on  a  broad  and  general  principle.  There  are  certain  in- 
tellectual and  moral  truths  which  arc  universal  among  man- 
kind, and  which,  being  our  earliest  and  most  vivid  intuitions, 
cannot  be  questioned  without  universal  scepticism.2  Thus, 
for  example,  the  axiom  that  the  whole  is  greater  than  a  part, 
represents  the  highest  kind  of  certainty  to  which  we  can  pos- 
sibly attain,  and  no  message  purporting  to  be  a  revelation 
can  be  received  in  contradiction  to  it.  For  the  reality  of 
such  a  revelation,  and  the  justice  of  such  an  interpretation 
must  nece-snrilv  be  established  by  a  process  of  reasoning,  and 


1  '  u\]r,  who  was  a  irrrat  coward  about  his  books,  published  this  under  tha 
title  '  Cuiitraiitx-lcx  '/'</</?•»-,  trad  nit  de  fAnyloln  du  Sieur  Jean  Fw.  dt  Urwigst 
par  M.  .1.  F.  :  a  Cantoi-bcrry,  chez  Thomas;  Lit\vcl.' 

5  Hoe,  for  a  full  dL-vc-loj.mem  of  tl  is,  ch.  i. 


ON    PERSECUTION.  67 

no  process  of  reasoning  can  be  so  evident  as  the  axiom.  In 
the  same  way,  the  fundamental  differences  between  right 
and  wrong  are  so  stamped  upon  the  mind,  that  they  may  be 
taken  as  the  ultimate  tests  of  all  ethical  teaching.  Xo  posi- 
tive enactments  can  supersede  them.  Xo  interpretation  of  a 
Divine  revelation  that  violates  them  can  be  acknowledged  as 
correct.1  The  intuition  by  which  wTe  know  what  is  right  and 
what  is  wrong,  is  clearer  than  any  chain  of  historic  reason- 
ing ;  and,  admitting  the  reality  of  a  revelation,  if  the  action 
of  the  moral  faculty  were  suspended,  we  should  have  no  means 
of  deciding  from  what  source  that  revelation  had  emanated. 
Jn  judging  therefore  a  moral  precept,  we  should  dissociate 
it  as  far  as  possible  from  all  special  circumstances  that  are 
connected  Avith  our  passions  and  our  prejudices,  and,  having 
reduced  it  to  its  simplest  and  most  abstract  form,  should  re- 
ject it  without  hesitation  if  repugnant  to  our  moral  faculty. 
We  should  do  this  even  if  we  can  discover  no  second  mean- 
ing. But,  if  tested  by  this  rule,  it  will  appear  grossly  im- 
moral to  compel  men  to  profess  a  religion  they  do  not  be- 
lieve, and  therefore  such  a  course  cannot  be  enjoined  by  the 
Deity.  Xor  is  it  less  irrational  than  immoral.  For  one  of 
the  first  and  most  obvious  consequences  of  persecution,  is  to 
prevent  that  comparison  of  the  opinions  of  many  classes 
which  is  absolutely  essential  for  the  discovery  of  truth.  We 
believe  perhaps  that  our  neighbours  are  immersed  in  damna- 
ble error,  but  they  believe  the  same  thing  of  us.  We  may 
be  firmly  persuaded  of  the  truth  of  the  opinions  we  have  been 

1  'Sans  exception  il  f;mt  soumettre  toutvs  les  luis  morales  ;\  cctte  i'ii-rf 
laturclle  d'equito  qui,  uus.-i  bieii  quo  la  liiiniero  met;iph\>ique,  illumine  tout 
borumu  venunt  an  momle.'  And  then-fore  lu'  concludes  'quo  tout  doiriae  pai- 
ticulier,  soil  qu'on  1'avance.  eomme  i-onu-nu  dans  1'Kerituiv,  ?oit  qu'ou  !<•  p:'"- 
pose  inurement,  est  faux  lorsqu'il  est  ivt'ute  par  le-s  notions  elaiivs  ot  di.-uncte* 
do  la  lumiere  naturelle.  prineipaleincnt  ;t  I'euard  de  la  inorali.1.'  U''a.  i.  > 


68  RATIONALISM   IN    EUltOrE. 

taught,  but  we  know  that  each  new  research  encroaches  upon 
the  domain  of  prejudice,  and  that  the  more  the  horizon  of  our 
minds  extends,  the  more  necessary  we  find  it  to  revise  both 
our  principles  and  our  arguments.  And  indeed,  when  we 
consider  the  feebleness  of  our  faculties,  the  extent  to  which 
oar  conceptions  are  coloured  by  the  atmosphere  in  which  we 
live,  and  above  all,  the  infinite  nature  of  the  Being  to  whora 
we  aspire,  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  suspecting  that  all  our 
conceptions  on  this  subject  must  be  partial  and  distorted ;  that 
our  attempts  to  classify  religious  opinions  into  absolute  truth 
and  falsehood  ai'e  almost  necessarily  futile ;  that  different  men 
according  to  the  measure  of  their  faculties  obtain  some  faint 
glimpses  of  different  aspects  of  the  Divine  nature ;  and  that 
no  one  has  a  right  to  arrogate  to  himself  the  possession  of 
such  an  amount  of  perfect  truth  as  to  render  it  unnecessary 
for  him  to  correct  and  enlarge  his  views  by  comparing  them 
with  those  even  of  the  most  ignorant  of  mankind.1 

It  is  not  necessary  for  my  purpose  to  pursue  in  detail  the 
arguments  by  which  Bayle  developed  these  principles,  or  to 
notice  the  many  important  consequences  he  deduced  from 
them.  What  I  have  written  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the 
general  character  of  his  defence  of  toleration.  It  will  show 

1  '  Tout  liomme  aiant  eprouve  qu'il  est  sujet  a  1'eiTeur,  et  qu'il  YOU  cm  croit 
voir  en  vieillissant  la  f'aussete  do  phisieurs  chose*  qu'il  avoit  eru  vevi tables, 
doit  etre  toujours  dispose  A  ccouter  ceux  qui  lui  olTVcnt  des  instructions  en 
matifere  memo  de  religion.  Je  n'cii  excente  pas  los  Chretien.* ;  et  jo  suis  per- 
Euade  que  s'il  nous  venoit  unc  Hotte  de  la  terrc  Australe  ou  il  y  cut  de*  gens 
qui  fissent  connoitre  qu'ils  souhaitoient  de  conferer  nvec  nous  stir  la  nature  de 
Dieu  et  sur  le  cnlte  que  I'hoinme  lui  doit,  aiant  apnris  fjue  nous  avons  <ur  cela 
des  erreurs  damnable*,  nous  ne  ferion*  pas  mal  do  Ics  ecouUT,  non  seuluiiient 
parcecjue  cc  semit  le  nioien  de  les  desabuser  des  erreurs  ou  nous  eroirions 
qu'ils  seruk'iit,  inais  nus.-i  jiarceque  nous  pourrions  nrofiter  de  leiirs  lumieres, 
et  que  nous  uevons  nous  faire  de  Pieu  unc  i'lee  si  vastc  et  si  infinie  que  nous 
X)uvons  sounijonner  qu'il  aucnnentera  no.*  connoissances  a  Tinfini,  et  par  def. 
'jegres  et  des  manieres  dont  la  vaiiete  sera  infiuie.'  (Part  i.  e.  5.) 


ON   PERSECUTION.  69 

tbat  Bayle,  like  Montaigne  and  Descartes,  was  tolerant  be- 
cause lie  was  rationalistic,  and  was  rationalistic  because  lie 
was  sceptical.  Keenly  sensible  of  the  weakness  of  our  fac- 
ulties, and  of  the  imperfection  of  all  dogmatic  systems,  he 
resolved  to  subordinate  those  systems  to  the  teachings  of 
natural  religion,  and  he  therefore  protested  against  a  practice 
which  presupposes  a  degree  of  certainty  that  docs  not  exist, 
and  which  is  repugnant  to  the  dictates  of  conscience. 

The  intellectual  movement  of  which  these  three  writers 
were  the  representatives,  and  in  a  great  degree  the  cause, 
was  clearly  reflected  iu  the  policy  of  the  two  wisest,  if  not 
greatest  rulers  France  has  ever  possessed.  By  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  Henry  IV.,  whose  theological  xeal  was  notoriously 
languid,  solemnly  established  the  principle  of  toleration.  By 
entering  into  a  Avar  in  which  his  allies  were  chiefly  Protes- 
tants, and  his  enemies  Catholics,  Richelieu  gave  a  new  direc- 
tion to  the  sympathies  of  the  people,  instituted  lines  of  de- 
marcation which  were  incompatible  with  the  old  spirit  of 
sect,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  general  secularisation  of 
politics.  The  reaction  which  took  place  under  Louis  XIV., 
although  it  caused  intolerable  Muttering,  and,  indeed,  partly 
in  consequence  of  that  suffering,  had  eventually  the  effect  ot 
accelerating  the  movement.  The  drayonnaJ.cs,  and  the  re 
v'ocation  of  the  Edict  of  Xantes,  formed  the  most  conspicuous 
events  of  a  period  which  was  preeminently  di-:isin>us  to 
France,  and  the  effects  of  those  measure's  upon  French  pros- 
perity were  so  rapid  and  so  fital  that  popular  indignation 
-A' as  roused  to  the  highe-t  point.  The  ruin  of  the  French 
army,  the  taxation  that  ground  the  pe"ple  to  the  duM 
paralysis  of  industry,  the  intellectual  tyranny,  and  the  idmoM 
monastic  austeritv  of  the  court,  had  all  combined  TO  increase 
the  discontent,  ami.  as  is  often  the  case,  tin.-  whole  weight  of 


70  RATIONALISM    EST   EUEOPE. 

tliis  unpopularity  was  directed  against  each  separate  element 
of  tyranny.  The  recoil  was  manifested  in  the  wild  excesses 
of  the  Regency,  a  period  which  presents,  in  many  respects,  a 
very  striking  resemblance  to  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  in  Eng- 
land.  In  both  cases  the  reaction  against  an  enforced  ausleri- 
y  produced  tLe  most  unbridled  immorality ;  in  both  cases 
(his  was  increased  by  the  decay  of  those  theological  notions 
on  which  morality  was  at  that  time  universally  based;  in 
both  cases  the  court  led  the  movement ;  and  in  both  cases 
that  movement  eventuated  in  a  revolution  which  in  the  order 
of  religion  produced  toleration,  and  in  the  order  of  politics 
produced  an  organic  change.  That  vice  has  often  proved  an 
emancipator  of  the  mind,  is  one  of  the  most  humiliating,  but, 
at  the  same  time,  one  of  the  most  unquestionable  facts  in  his- 
tory. It  is  the  special  evil  of  intolerance  that  it  entwines 
itself  around  the  holiest  parts  of  our  nature,  and  becomes  at 
last  so  blended  with  the  sense  of  duty  that,  as  has  been  finely 
said,  '  Conscience,  which  restrains  every  other  vice,  becomes 
the  prompter  here.' '  Two  or  three  times  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  its  destruction  has  involved  a  complete  dissolution 
of  the  moral  principles  by  which  society  coheres,  and  the  cra- 
dle of  religious  liberty  has  been  rocked  by  the  worst  passions 
of  humanity. 

When  the  moral  chaos  that  followed  the  death  of  Louis 
XIV.  was  almost  universal,  when  all  past  beliefs  were  cor- 
roded and  vitiated,  and  had  degenerated  into  empty  names  or 
idle  superstitions,  a  great  intellectual  movement  arose,  under 
the  guidance  of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  which  was  designed 
to  reconstruct  the  edifice  of  morality,  and  which,  after  a 
brief  but  fierce  struggle  with  the  civil  power,  obtained  a  com- 
plete ascendency  on  the  Continent.  The  object  of  *hese 

1  Grattan. 


ON   PEKSECUTION.  71 

writers  was  not  to  erect  a  new  system  of  positive  religion, 
but  rather  to  remove  those  systems  which  then  existed,  and 
to  prove  the  adequacy  of  natural  religion  to  the  moral 
wants  of  mankind.  The  first  of  these  tasks  was  undertaken 
especially  by  Voltaire.  The  second  was  more  congenial  to 
tike  mind  of  Rousseau.  Both  writers  exercised  a  great  influ- 
ence upon  the  history  of  toleration ;  but  that  influence,  if  not 
directly  opposed,  was  at  least  very  different.  Voltaire  was 
at  all  times  the  unflinching  opponent  of  persecution.  No 
matter  how  powerful  was  the  persecutor,  no  matter  how  in 
significant  was  the  victim,  the  same  scathing  eloquence  was 
launched  against  the  crime,  and  the  indignation  of  Europe 
was  soon  concentrated  upon  the  oppressor.  The  fearful 
storm  of  sarcasm  and  invective  that  avenged  the  murder  of 
Galas,  the  magnificent  dream  in  the  Philosophical  Dictionary 
reviewing  the  history  of  persecution  from  the  slaughtered 
Canaanites  to  the  latest  victims  who  had  perished  at  the 
stake,  the  indelible  stigma  branded  upon  the  persecutors  of 
every  age  and  of  every  creed,  all  attested  the  intense  and 
passionate  earnestness  with  which  Voltaire  addressed  himself 
to  his  task.  On  other  subjects  a  jest  or  a  caprice  could  often 
turn  him  aside.  When  attacking  intolerance,  he  employed, 
indeed,  every  weapon,  but  he  employed  them  all  with  the 
concentrated  energy  of  a  profound  conviction.  His  ?ucce>s 
was  equal  to  his  zeal.  The  spirit  of  intolerance  sank  blasted 
beneath  his  genius.  "Wherever  his  influence  pas-ed,  the  arm 
of  the  Inquisitor  was  palsied,  the  chain  of  the  captive  river 
(he  prison  door  flung  open.  Beneath  his  withering  irons 
persecution  appeared  not  only  criminal  but  loathsome,  and 
since  his  time  it  lias  ever  shrunk  from  observation,  :ind  masked 
its  features  under  other  names.  1  le  died,  leaving  a  reput  at  ion 
that  is  indeed  far  from  spotless,  but  having  done  mure  to  dc- 


T2  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

stroy  the  greatest  of  human  curses  than  any  other  of  the  sons 
of  men. 

Rousseau  had  probably  quite  as  strong  a  sense  of  the  evil 
of  religious  persecution  as  Voltaire,  but  by  a  remarkable  pro- 
cess of  reasoning  lie  justified  its  worst  excesses.  He  saw 
very  plainly  that  the  intolerance  of  the  past  was  not  due  to 
any  accidental  circumstances  or  to  any  interested  motives, 
but  was  the  normal  product  of  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  sal- 
vation. He  maintained  that  reciprocity  was  the  condition  of 
toleration  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  a  dominant  party  is  only  justi- 
fied in  according  toleration  where  there  is  some  reasonable 
probability  that  it  will  continue  when  the  relative  position  of 
the  parties  is  changed.  From  these  two  principles  lie  in- 
ferred the  necessity  of  the  widest  intolerance.  He  told  the 
believers  in  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation  that  it  was 
their  manifest  duty  to  persecute  all  Avho  differed  from  them. 
He  told  the  philosophers  that  it  was  necessary  to  banish  all 
who  held  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation,  because  that 
principle  was  incompatible  with  the  tranquillity  of  society.1 
This  opinion  was  very  natural  at  a  time  when  the  experiment 
of  absolute  toleration  had  scarcely  ever  been  tried,  and  in 
the  writings  of  one  who  was  essentially  a  theorist.  We  now 
know  that  religious  liberty  has  an  admirable  influence  in 
reducing  opinions  to  their  proper  level ;  that  it  invariably  acts 
upon  and  modifies  doctrines  which  seem  subversive  to  society ; 

1  '  Ceux  qui  distinguent  ['intolerance  civile  ct  1'intolerancc  theologique,  so 
trnmjifiif  a  inon  uvi?.  Cos  deux  intolerances  sont  inseparables.  II  est  impos- 
•iMc  di>  viviv  en  paix  avec  des  gens  qu'on  croit  damnes  ;  Ics  aimer  seroit  hair 
;)ku  qui  Ics  jp'init  :  il  f'aut  absolumeut  qu'on  les  rainenc  ou  qu'on  K-s  tour- 
liii'iite.  .  .  .  On  doit  tok'-rer  tons  le.s  religions  qui  toll-rent  les  mitre.-, 
iiiuant  quc  leiir  dogrnes  n'ont  rieii  do  contrairc  nux  devoirs  du  citoyen  ;  inais 
quiconqno  ose  dire  hois  de  1'Kglise  point  do  saint,  doit  etre  chasse  do  1'etat,  & 
rnoins  que  I'etat.  ne  suit  1'Knlise.  et  (jue  le  jn-ince  ue  soit  le  ]^ontii'e.'  (Control 
Social,  liv.  iv.  c.  S.j 


ON    PERSECUTION.  73 

and  ttat  while  it  loaves  the  professions  of  men  unchanged,  it 
profoundly  alters  their  realisations.  This  Rousseau  did  not 
perceive,  and  his  blindness  was  shared  by  many  of  his  con- 
temporaries. In  the  French  Revolution  especially  we  find 
jhe  two  tendencies — an  intense  love  of  religious  liberty  and 
i  strong  bias  towards  intolerance — continually  manifested. 
In  that  noble  enactment  which  removed  at  a  single  stroke  all 
civil  disabilities  from  Protestants  and  Jews,  we  have  a 
splendid  instance  of  the  first.  In  the  exile,  the  spoliation, 
and,  too  often,  the  murder,  of  Catholic  priests,  we  have  a 
melancholy  example  of  the  second.  Still  it  must  be  admitted 
in  palliation  of  these  excesses  that  they  took  place  in  a 
paroxysm  of  the  wildest  popular  excitement,  when  the  minds 
of  men  were  exasperated  to  the  highest  degree  by  an 
atrocious  and  long-continued  tyranny,  when  the  very  exist- 
ence of  the  State  was  menaced  by  foreign  invaders,  and  when 
the  bulk  of  the  priesthood  were  openly  conspiring  against 
the  liberties  of  their  country.  It  should  also  be  remembered 
that  the  priests  had  to  the  very  last  declared  themselves  the 
implacable  enemies  of  religions  liberty.  At  all  events,  the 
spirit  of  tolerance  soon  regained  the  ascendency,  and  when 
the  elements  of  revolution  had  been  at  last  consolidated  into 
a  regular  government,  France  found  herself  possessed  of  a 
degree  of  religious  liberty  which  had  never  been  paralleled 
in  any  other  Roman  Catholic  country,  and  which  has  been 
barely  equalled  in  the  most  advanced  Protestant  ones.  As 
liis  liberty  grew  out  of  the  social  and  intellectual  condition 
•vhieh  was  attained  at  the  Revolution,  it  was  not  dependent 
upon  any  political  combination,  and  the  long  series  of  politi- 
cal changes  which  have  taken  place  during  the  last  halt-cen 
tury  have  only  ibrtiiied  and  developed  it. 

The  inference   to  be  drawn  from    this  sketch  is,  that   tho 
•21 


RATIONALISM   CX   EUROPE. 

growth  of  religions  liberty  in  France  was  at  all  times  directly 
opposed  to  the  Church,  and  that  its  triumph  was  a  measure 
of  her  depression.  Once,  however,  in  the  present  century,  an 
attempt  was  made,  under  the  leadership  of  Lamennais,  to 
issociate  Catholicity  with  the  movement  of  modern  civilisa- 
tion, and  it  was  supported  by  all  the  advantages  of  great 
genius  and  great  piety,  combined  with  circumstances  that 
were  in  some  respects  singularly  propitious.  The  issue  of 
that  attempt  is  profoundly  instructive.  It  is  shown  in  the 
abandonment  of  Catholicity  by  the  greatest  of  its  modern 
champions.  It  is  shown  still  more  strikingly  in  the  solemn 
and  authoritative  condemnation  of  religious  liberty  by  a 
pope,  who  justly  attributed  it  to  the  increasing  spirit  of 
rationalism.  '  We  arrive  now,'  wrote  Gregory  XVL,  '  at 
another  most  fruitful  cause  of  evils,  with  which  we  lament 
that  the  Church  is  at  present  afflicted  ;  namely,  indifferentism, 
or  that  pernicious  opinion  which  is  disseminated  everywhere 
by  the  artifice  of  wicked  men,  according  to  which  eternal  sal- 
vation may  be  obtained  by  the  profession  of  any  faith,  if  only 
practice  be  directed  by  the  rule  of  right  and  uprightness. 
,  .  .  From  this  noxious  fountain  of  indifferentism  flows 
that  absurd  and  erroneous  opinion,  or  rather  that  form  of 
madness,  which  declares  that  liberty  of  conscience  should  be 
•Asserted  and  maintained  for  every  one.  For  which  most 
pestilential  error,  that  full  and  immoderate  liberty  of  opin 
ions  paves  the  way  which,  to  the  injury  of  sacred  and  civil 
trovci  nment,  is  now  spread  far  and  wide,  and  which  some 
',vith  the  utmost  impudence  have  oxtolled  as  beneficial  to  re- 
ligion. l)iit  "  what,''  said  Augustine,  "  is  more  deadly  to 
the  soul  than  the  libertv  of  error?''  .  .  .  From  this 
cause,  too,  arises  that  never  sufficientlv  to  be  execrated  and 
(o  be  detested  liberty  <>!'  publication  of  all  books  \vhk-h  the 


ON   PEESECUTION.  75 

populace  relish,  which  some  are  most  ardently  extending  and 
promoting.  .  .  .  And  yet,  alas  !  there  are  those  who  are 
BO  carried  away  by  impndence  that  they  audaciously  assert 
(hat  the  deluge  of  errors  flowing  from  this  source  is  amply 
counterbalanced  by  an  occasional  book  which,  amid  the 
transport  of  iniquity,  defends  religion  and  truth.  .  .  .  What 
sane  man  would  permit  poison  to  be  publicly  scattered  about, 
sold,  and  even  drunk,  because  there  is  a  remedy  by  which  ita 
effects  may  possibly  be  counteracted  ?  '  ' 

If  we  compare  the  history  of  English  toleration  with  the 
history  I  have  just  sketched,  we  shall  find  some  striking 
points  of  resemblance ;  but  also  some  differences  which  illus- 
trate very  happily  the  nature  of  the  superiority  of  Protestant- 
ism over  Catholicism.  Among  Protestants,  as  among  Catho- 
lics, the  advance  of  the  spirit  of  rationalism  was,  as  I  have 
said,  the  necessary  antecedent  of  the  victory  of  toleration. 
As  long  as  men  believed  that  those  who  rejected  certain 
opinions  were  excluded  from  salvation,  they  continued  to  per- 
secute. When  the  number  of  what  were  deemed  fundamental 
doctrines  was  very  great,  the  persecution  was  very  severe. 
When  the  progress  of  latitudinarianism  diminished  the  num- 
ber, the  circle  of  toleration  was  proportionately  enlarged  ; 
when  the  government  fell  into  the  hands  of  classes  who  did 
not  believe  or  did  not  realise  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salva- 
tion, the  persecution  entirely  ceased.  Other  influences,  such 
as  the  conflict  of  interests,  the  progress  of  political  libeity. 
(he  softening  of  manners,  or  the  benevolent  feelings  of  indi\  id- 
ual  divines,  did  no  doubt  afl'ect  the  movement  ;  but  their 
agency  was  so  subsidiary  that,  speaking  generally,  it  may  be 
safelv  asserted,  that  as  the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation  was 


76  EATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

the  source  of  that  fearful  mass  of  suffering  which  we  have 
reviewed,  so  the  spirit  of  rationalism  which  destroyed  that 
doctrine  was  the  measure  of  religious  liberty.  It  is  also  true 
that  in  Protestant  countries  as  well  as  in  Catholic  ones  the 
great  majority  of  the  clergy  were  the  bitter  enemies  of  the 
movement,  that  they  defended  entrenchment  after  entrench- 
ment with  a  desperate  tenacity,  and  that  some  of  the  noblest 
triumphs  of  toleration  are  the  memorials  of  their  depression. 
But  at  this  point  the  history  of  the  religions  divides,  and  two 
very  important  distinctions  attest  the  superiority  of  Protes- 
tantism. Its  flexibility  is  so  great,  that  it  has  been  able  cor 
dially  to  coalesce  with  a  tendency  which  it  long  resisted, 
whereas  the  Church  of  Rome  is  even  now  exhausting  its 
strength  by  vain  efforts  to  arrest  a  spirit  with  which  it  is  un- 
able to  assimilate.  Besides  this,  as  I  have  already  noticed, 
toleration,  however  incompatible  with  some  of  the  tenets 
which  Protestants  have  asserted,  is  essentially  a  normal  result 
of  Protestantism,  for  it  is  the  direct,  logical,  and  inevitable 
consequence  of  the  due  exercise  of  private  judgment.  When 
men  have  appreciated  the  countless  differences  which  the  ex- 
ercise of  that  judgment  must  necessarily  produce,  when  they 
have  estimated  the  intrinsic  fallibility  of  their  reason,  and  the 
degree  in  which  it  is  distorted  by  the  will,  when,  above  all, 
they  have  acquired  that  love  of  truth  which  a  constant  ap- 
peal to  private  judgment  at  last  produces,  they  will  nevei 
dream  that  guilt  can  be  associated  with  an  honest  conclusion, 
or  that  one  class  of  arguments  should  be  stilled  by  authority 
In  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  controversies  witli 
Catholicism  had  brought  the  central  principle  of  Protestant- 
ism into  clear  relief,  and  when  the  highest  genius  of  Europe 
Btill  flowed  in  the  channels  of  divinity,  this  love  of  truth  was 
manifested  in  the  greatest  works  of  English  theology  ton  de- 


ON   PKKSECUTION.  77 

gree  which  no  other  department  of  literature  has  ever  equal- 
led. Hooker,  unfolding  with  his  majestic  eloquence  the  im- 
mutable principles  of  eternal  law:  Berkeley,  the  greatest 
modern  master  of  the  Socratic  dialogue,  asserting  the  claims 
oi  free  thought  against  those  who  vainly  boasted  that  thoj 
monopolised  it,  and  pursuing  with  the  same  keen  and  pien 
ing  logic  the  sophisms  that  lurked  in  the  commonplaces  ol 
fashion  and  in  the  obscurest  recesses  of  metaphysics;  Chil- 
lingworth,  drawing  with  a 'bold  and  unfaltering  hand  the  line 
between  certainties  and  probabilities,  eliminating  from  theol- 
ogy the  old  conception  of  faith  considered  as  an  unreasoning 
acquiescence,  and  teaching  that  belief  should  always  be  strict- 
ly 'proportionable  to  the  credibility  of  its  motives;' — these 
and  such  as  these,  even  when  they  were  themselves  opposed 
to  religious  liberty,  were  its  real  founders.  Their  noble  con- 
fidence in  the  power  of  truth,  their  ceaseless  struggle 
against  the  empire  of  prejudice,  their  comprehensive  views  of 
the  laws  and  limits  of  the  reason,  their  fervent  passionate 
love  of  knowledge,  and  the  majesty  and  dignity  of  their 
sentiments,  all  produced  in  England  a  tone  of  thought  that 
was  essentially  opposed  to  persecution,  and  made  their  writ- 
ings the  perennial  source  by  which  even  now  the  most  heroic 
natures  are  invigorated.  A  nation  was  not  far  from  a  just 
estimate  of  religious  controversies  when  it  had  learnt  to  hold 
with  Milton  that  'opinion  in  good  men  is  but  knowledge  in 
the  making  ; '  and  that  '  if  a  man  believes  things  only  beams, 
his  pastor  says  so,  or  the  assembly  so  determines,  withou: 
knowing  other  reason,  though  his  belief  be  true,  yet  the  very 
truth  he  holds  becomes  his  heresy.' l  It  was  not  far  from  re- 
ligious liberty  when  it  could  receive  the  noble  language  of 
Chillin<jworth  :  '  If  men  do  their  best  endeavours  to  free  them 


78  RATIONALISM    IX    EUJROPE. 

selves  from  all  errors,  and  yet  fail  of  it  through  human  frailty, 
so  well  I  am  persuaded  of  the  goodness  of  God,  that  if  in  me 
alone  should  meet  a  confluence  of  all  such  errors  of  all  the 
Protestants  in  the  world  that  were  thus  qualified,  I  should 
not  be  so  much  afraid  of  them  all,  as  I  should  be  to  ask  par- 
Ion  for  them.'  * 

There  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  general  move- 
ment in  England  in  favour  of  religious  liberty  till  the  time  of 
the  Great  Rebellion.  The  tyranny  of  Laud  had  then  disgust- 
ed most  men  with  the  system  he  pursued ;  the  rapid  vicissi- 
tudes of  politics  had  made  all  parties  endure  the  bitterness  of 
persecution,  and  the  destruction  of  the  old  government  had 
raised  some  of  the  ablest  Englishmen  to  po\ver.  It  would 
have  been  strange,  indeed,  if  this  great  question  had  been  un- 
touched at  a  period  when  Cromwell  was  guiding  the  admin- 
istration, and  31ilton  the  intellect,  of  England,  and  when  the 
enthusiasm  of  liberty  had  thrilled  through  every  quarter  of 
the  land.  The  Catholics,  indeed,  were  ruthlessly  proscribed, 
and  Drogheda  and  Wexford  tell  but  too  plainly  the  light  in 
which  they  were  regarded.  The  Church  of  England,  or,  as 
it  was  then  termed,  'prelacy,'  was  also  legally  suppressed, 
though  Cromwell  very  frequently  connived  at  its  worship; 
but  with  these  exceptions  the  toleration  was  very  large. 
There  was  a  division  on  the  subject  between  the  Independents 
and  the  Presbyterians.  The  former,  with  Cromwell  himself, 
dosiivd  the  widest  liberty  of  conscience  to  be  extended  to  all 
Christians,  short  of  the  toleration  of  'Popery  and  Prelacy;' 
and  in  1053  they  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Parliament  to  pas;- 
a  bill  to  that  effect.  Supported  by  the  Independents,  Crom- 
well went  still  further,  and  gave  the  Jews  once  more  a  legal 
fb"ting  in  England,  permitted  them  to  celebrate  their  wor- 

:  Jidi'/i'jii  of  Prntcd'iitU.  p.  4-t  (ed.  17-liij. 


ON    PERSECUTION.  l'J 

chip,  and  protected  their  persons  from  injury.  The  Presby- 
terians, on  the  other  hand,  constantly  laboured  to  thwart  the 
measures  of  the  Protector.  They  desired  that  those  only 
should  be  tolerated  who  accepted  the  '  fundamentals '  of 
( 'hristianity,  and  they  drew  up  a  list  of  these  '  fundamentals,' 
which  formed  as  elaborate  and  exclusive  a  test  as  the  articles 
of  the  Church  they  had  defeated.1  Baxter,  however,  although 
he  pronounced  universal  toleration  to  be  '  soul-murder,' 3  and 
struggled  vigorously  against  the  policy  of  the  Independents, 
was,  on  the  whole,  somewhat  more  liberal  than  his  coreligion- 
ists ;  and  it  should  be  recorded  to  his  special  honour  that  he 
applauded  the  relief  that  was  granted  to  the  Jews,  when 
most  of  the  Presbyterians,  under  the  leadership  of  Prynue, 
were  denouncing  it. 

The  three  principal  writers  who  at  this  time  represented 

1  A  full  description  of  them  is  given  in  Xeal's  History  of  the  Puritans. 
In  1G48  the.  Presbyterians  tried  to  induce  the  Parliament  to  pass  a  law  by 
which  any  one  who  persistently  taught  anything  contrary  to  the  main  proposi- 
tions comprised  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarnation  should  be 
punished  with  death,  and  all  who  taught  Popish,  Armiman,  Antinomian, 
Baptist,  or  Quaker  doctrines,  should  be  imprisoned  for  life,  unless  thev  could 
find  sureties  that  they  would  teach  them  no  more.  (Xeal,  vol.  ii.  pp.  338- 
Si«X)  The  Scotch  were  unwearied  in  their  efforts  to  suppress  liberty  of  con- 
science, and  in  1(545  thoir  Parliament  addressed  the  English  Parliament:  '  The 
Parliament  of  this  kingdom  is  persuaded  that  the  piety  and  wisdom  of  the 
honourable  houses  will  never  admit  toleration  of  any  sects  or  schisms  contrary 
to  our  solemn  league  and  covenant; '  and  at  the  same  time  published  a  solemn 
4  declaration  against  toleration  of  sectaries  and  liberty  of  conscience.'  (HiiJ 
pp.  211-222.)  Among  the  notions  started  by  the  Anabaptists  was  that  of  a 
sle«r  of  the  soul  between  death  and  judgment,  against  which  Calvin  wrote  a 
book  wir.h  the  barbarous  title  of  Psychopannychia.  This  very  harmless  notion 
was  one  of  those  which.,  when  obstinat.-Iy  periled  in,  the  Presbyterians  of 
I  64$  wished  to  punish  \vith  an  indefinite  period  of  imprisonment.  (N~e.il,  vol. 
ii.  p.  S39.) 

*  '  Popery.  MahometaniMn,  infidelity,  and  heathenism  are  the  way  TO  dam- 
nation ;  but  liberty  to  preach  up  and  to  practi.-e  them  i-  the  means  t<>  n,ake 
men  Papists,  Mahometans,  IntideU,  and  Heathens;  theref. 'iv  this  li!.<_ny  i.^  the 
way  to  men's  damnation.'  (JR'ly  Commonwealth,  2d  Preface.; 


bO  RATIONALISM   IN    EUKOPE. 

the  movement  of  toleration,  were  Harrington,  Milton,  and 

'  O  7  7 

Taylor — the  first  of  whom  dealt  mainly  with  its  political,  and 
the  other  two  with  its  theological  aspect.  Of  the  three,  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  the  politician  took  by  far  the  most 
comprehensive  view.  He  perceived  very  clearly  that  political 
liberty  cannot  subsist  where  there  is  not  absolute  religious 
liberty,  and  that  religious  liberty  does  not  consist  simply  of 
toleration,  but  implies  a  total  abolition  of  religious  disqualifi- 
cations. In  these  respects  he  alone  among  his  contempo- 
raries anticipated  the  doctrines  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
'Where  civil  liberty  is  entire,'  he  wrote,  'it  includes  liberty 
of  conscience.  Where  liberty  of  conscience  is  entire,  it  in- 
cludes civil  liberty.'  '  '  Liberty  of  conscience  entire,  or  in  the 
whole,  is  where  a  man,  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own 
conscience,  may  have  the  free  exercise  of  his  religion,  without 
impediment  to  his  preferment  or  employment  in  the  State.' 3 
But  if  Harrington  took  the  widest  view  of  the  rights  of 
conscience,  Milton  was  certainly  the  advocate  who  was  most 
likely  to  have  advanced  the  cause,  both  on  account  of  his  high 
position  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  because  his  opinions  on 
the  subject  were,  for  the  most  part,  embodied  in  a  tract, 
which  probably  represents  the  very  highest  point  that  English 
eloquence  lias  attained.  The  Paradise  Lost  is,  indeed,  scarce- 
ly a  more  glorious  monument  of  the  genius  of  Milton  than  the 
Areopagitica.  If,  even  at  the  present  day,  when  the  cause 

1  Political  Aphorisms,  23,  2-1. 

3  A  System  of  Politics,  ch.  vi.  Passages  very  similar  occur  in  the  Occati'i} 
and,  indeed,  all  through  the  writings  of  Harrington.  The  following  is,  I  .Iiink, 
a  very  remarkable  instance  of  political  prescience:  'If  it  be  said  that  in 
France  there  is,  liberty  of  conscience  in  part,  it  is  also  plain  that  while  the 
hierarchy  is  standing  this  liberty  is  falling,  and  that  if  ever  it  comes  to  pull 
down  the  hierarchy,  it  pulls,  down  that  monarchy  also.  Wherefore  the  mon- 
archy and  hierarchy  will  be  beforehand  with  it,  if  they  see  their  true  interest.' 
(St/itun  of  Polit'^,  ch.  vi.) 


ON   PERSECUTION.  81 

for  which  it  was  written  has  long  since  triumphed,  it  is  im- 
possible to  read  it  without  emotion,  we  can  hardly  doubt  that 
when  it  first  appeared  it  exercised  a  mighty  influence  over 
the  awakening  movement  of  liberty.  Milton  advocated  toler- 
ance on  several  distinct  grounds.  In  defence  of  truth  he 
deemed  persecution  wholly  unnecessary,  '  For  truth  is  strong 
next  to  the  Almighty.  She  needs  no  policies  or  stratagems  or 
licensings  to  make  her  victorious.  These  are  the  shifts  and 
the  defences  that  error  uses  against  her  power.'  1  But  if  per- 
secution is  unnecessary  in  the  defence  of  truth,  it  has  a  fearful 
efficacy  in  preventing  men  from  discovering  it  ;  and  when  it 
is  so  employed,  as  infallibility  does  not  exist  among  mankind, 
no  man  can  assuredly  decide.  For  truth  is  scattered  far  and 
wide  in  small  portions  among  mankind,  mingled  in  every  sys- 
tem with  the  dross  of  error,  grasped  perfectly  by  no  one,  and 
only  in  some  degree  discovered  by  the  careful  comparison 
and  collation  of  opposing  systems.2  To  crush  some  of  these 
systems,  to  stifle  the  voice  of  argument,  to  ban  and  pro- 
scribe the  press,  or  to  compel  it  only  to  utter  the  sentiments 
of  a  single  sect,  is  to  destroy  the  only  means  we  possess  of 
arriving  at  truth  ;  and  as  the  difficulty  of  avoiding  error  is 
under  the  most  favourable  circumstances  very  great,  it  may 
be  presumed  that  the  doctrines  which  it  is  necessary  to  hold 


"  '  Truth,  indeed,  c;'r.'c-  once  into  the  worM  with  her  Iiiv'iio  Master,  and 
wa?  a  perfect  shape  most  glorious  to  look  on  ;  hut  when  lie  ascended,  and  his 
Apostles  after  Him  were  laid  asleep,  then  straight  arose  a  wicked  race  of  de- 
ceivers, who,  as  the  story  goes  of  the  Egyptian  T\phon  with  his  conspirators, 
how  thev  dealt  with  the  good  Osyris,  took  the  virgin  Truth,  hewed  her  lovely 
form  into  a  thousand  pieces,  and  scattered  them  to  the  four  winds.  From  that 
time  ever  since  the  sad  friend?  of  Truth,  such  as  durst  appear,  imitating  the 
careful  search  that  Isis  made  for  the  mangled  body  of  Osyris,  went  tip  and 
down  gathering  up  limb  and  limb,  still  as  they  could  find  them.  \Ve  have  noc 
vet.  found  them  all,  Lords  and  Commons,  nor  ever  shall  do  til!  !ier  Master's 
second  coming.'  (Arcopayitira.*) 


82  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

are  but  few,  and  where  the  error  is  not  fundamental  it  should 
not  be  suppressed  by  law.  All  the  differences  that  divide 
Protestants  arc  upon  matters  not  bearing  on  salvation,  and 
therefore  all  classes — Socinians,  Arians,  and  Anabaptists,  as 
well  as  others — should  be  tolerated.1  The  Catholics,  however, 
Milton  rigidly  excludes  from  the  smallest  measure  of  toleri 
ancc,  and  the  reason  he  gives  is  very  remarkable.  The  in- 
triguing policy  of  its  priesthood  might  at  that  time,  at  least, 
furnish  a  plausible  ground,  but  ]\Iilton,  though  evidently  be- 
lieving it  to  be  so,  expressly  refuses  to  base  his  decision  upon 
it.  His  exclusion  of  Catholics  rests  upon  a  distinct  religious 
principle.  The  worship  of  the  Catholics  is  idolatrous,  and 
the  Old  Testament  forbids  the  toleration  of  idolatry.2 

The  last  name,  I  have  mentioned  is  Taylor,  whose  Liberty 
of  Prophesying  is,  if  we  except  The  Religion  of  Protestants, 
unquestionably  the  most  important  contribution  of  the  Angli- 
can Church  towards  toleration.3  It  is  scarcely  possible  to 
read  it  without  arriving  at  an  invincible  conviction  that  it 


1  See  hi.-;  tract,  Of  true  li/liyion,  Iferesy,  Schism,  Toleration,  published  in 
167'j.  Ho  docs  riot,  however,  seem  to  have  understood  the  Socinian  heresy 
exactly  as  it  is  now  understood. 

'*  'As  for  tolerating  the  exorcise  of  their  (the  Catholics')  religion,  supposing 
their  State  activities  not  to  be  dangerous,  I  answer  that  toleration  is  either 
public  or  private,  and  the  exerci.-c  of  their  religion  as  far  as  it  is  idolatrous  can 
be  tolerated  neither  way  :  not  publicly,  without  grievous  and  unsufferable 
geandal  given  to  all  conscientious  beholders  ;  not  privately,  without  great 
offence  to  (Jod,  declared  again.-t  all  kind  of  idolatry  though  secret.  Ezech. 
viii.  7.  8,  and  verse  1L',  Ace.  ;  and  it  appears  by  the  whole  chapter,  that  God 
wi3  no  less  offended  with  those  secret  idolatries  than  with  those  in  public,  and 
ao  le.;s  provoked  than  to  bring  on  and  hasten  his  judgments  on  the  whole 
mnd  for  them  al-o.'  (Vi,<l.)  It  is  of  course  open  to  supposition,  and  not  very 
improbable,  that  this  passage,  being  written  after  the  Restoration,  when  Cathol- 
icism had  become  a  serious  menace  to  the  liberty  of  England,  emanated  rather 
from  the  politician  than  from  the  theologian. 

3  Chillingworth  publi-hed  '/'//<:-  ]t>r>riion  of  Protestants  in  K.."1/,  one  year 
before  he  took  orders — which  hist  step  he  had  many  scruples  about. 


ON   PERSECUTION.  83 

expressed  the  genuine  sentiments  of  its  author.  Its  argu- 
ment is  based  upon  latitudinarian  principles,  which  appear 
more  or  less  in  all  his  writings,  and  its  singularly  indulgent 
tone  towards  the  Catholics,  its  earnest  advocacy  of  their 
daims  to  toleration,1  which  would  hardly  have  been  expected 
from  eo  uncompromising  a  Protestant  as  the  author  of  The 
Dissuasive  from  Popery,  was  certainly  not  intended  to  pro- 
pitiate the  Puritans.  Besides  this,  the  whole  book  is  ani- 
mated with  a  warmth  and  tenderness  of  chanty,  a  catholicity 
of  temper  biassing  the  judgment  in  favour  of  mercy,  which 
could  scarcely  have  been  counterfeited.  This  was  indeed  at 
all  times  the  most  amiable  characteristic  of  Taylor.  His  very 
style — like  the  murmur  of  a  deep  sea,  bathed  in  the  sun — so 
richly  coloured  by  an  imagination  that  was  never  disunited 
from  the  affections,  and  at  the  same  time  so  sweetly  cadeuced, 
so  full  of  gentle  and  varied  melodies,  reflects  his  character ; 
and  not  the  less  so  because  of  a  certain  want  of  nervousness 
and  consistency,  a  certain  vagueness  and  almost  feebleness 
which  it  occasionally  displays.  The  arguments  on  Avhich  he 
based  his  cause  are  very  simple.  lie  believed  that  the  great 
majority  of  theological  propositions  cannot  be  clearly  deduced 
from  Scripture,  and  that  it  is  therefore  not  necessary  to  hold 
them."  The  Apostles'  Creed  he  regarded  as  containing  the 
.lootrines  which  can  certainly  be  established,  and,  therefore, 
as  comprising  all  that  are  fundamental.  All  errors  on  ques- 
tions beyond  these  do  not  affect  salvation,  and  ought,  in  conse- 
quence, to  be  tolerated.  As  far,  therefore,  as  he  was  a  scep- 
tic, Taylor  was  a  rationalist,  and  as  far  as  he  was  a  rational- 
ist h.e  was  an  advocate  of  toleration.  Unfortunately  for  his 

1  Sec.  22.  He  desires  that  they  should  be  absolutely  tolerated,  unless, 
Indeed,  they  openly  preach  such  doctrines  as  the  non-observance  of  faith  with 
ftere'ics,  or  that  a  pope  can  absolve  subjects  from  the  oath  of  allegiance,  of 
that  an  heretical  prince  may  be  slain  by  his  people. 


RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

reputation,  he  wrote  The  Liberty  of  Prophesying  in  exile, 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  abandoned  its  principles  when  his 
Church  regained  her  ascendency.1 

All  through  the  period  of  the  Restoration  the  movement 
of  toleration  continued.  The  vast  amouut  of  scepticism  ex- 
isting in  the  country  caused  the  governing  class  to  look  with 
comparative  indifference  upon  doctrinal  differences ;  and  the 
general  adoption  of  the  principles  of  Bacon  and  of  Descartes, 
by  the  ablest  writers,  accelerated  the  movement,  which  began 
to  appear  in  the  most  unexpected  quarters."  The  expression 
of  that  movement  in  the  Anglican  Church  is  to  be  found  in 
the  latitudinarian  school,  which  followed  closely  in  the  steps 
of  Chillingworth.  Like  the  Independents  and  Presbyterians 
of  the  Commonwealth,  like  the  greater  number  of  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  execution  of  Servetus,  the  members  of  this  school 
usually  based  their  advocacy  of  tolerance  on  the  ground  of 
the  distinction  between  fundamentals  and  non-fundamentals, 
and  the  degree  in  which  they  restricted  or  expanded  the  first 
depended  mainly  on  their  scepticism.  Glanvil,  who  was, 
perhaps,  the  most  uncompromising  of  these  writers,  having 
in  his  treatise  On  the  Vanity  of  Dogma? ixirty  preached  al- 

'  On  which  Coleridge  remark?,  I  think,  a  little  too  severely:  'If- Jeremy 
Taylor  had  not  in  effect  retracted  after  the  Restoration,  if  he  had  not,  as  soon 
as  the  Church  had  gained  power,  most  basely  disclaimed  and  disavowed  the 
prineiple  of  toleration,  and  apologised  for  the  publication  by  declaring  it  to 
have  been  a  rust  de  guerre,  currying  pardon  for  his  past  liberalism  by  charg- 
ing, and  most  probably  slandering,  himself  with  the  guilt  of  falsehood,  treach- 
ery, and  hypocrisy,  his  character  as  a  man  would  have  been  almost  stainless' 
(Elites  on  Emjllxli  D'fuifs,  vol.  i.  p.  209.) 

2  E.  g.  in  Quakeri-m— th;it  strange  form  of  distorted  rationalism,  which, 
while  proclaiming  doctrines  absolutely  subversive  of  natioial  independence, 
and  indulging  in  extravagances  almost  worthy  of  Bedlam,  maintained  in  the 
most  unequivocal  language  the  absolute  inefficiency  of  mere  religious  cere- 
monies,  the  possibility  of  salvation  in  any  Church,  and  the  injustice  of  even 
form  of  persecution. 


ON   PEKSECUTION.  85 

most  universal  scepticism,  proceeded  in  consequence  to  ad- 
vocate almost  universal  toleration.  He  drew  up  a  catalogue 
of  necessary  articles  of  belief,  which  was  of  such  a  nature 
that  scarcely  any  one  was  excluded,  and  he  contended  that 
no  one  should  be  punished  for  errors  that  are  not  fundamen- 
tal. The  effects  of  the  tendency  were  soon  manifested  in  the 
laws,  and  in  1677  the  power  of  putting  heretics  to  death  Avaa 
withdrawn  from  the  bishops. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  first  stage  of  toleration  in  Eng- 
land was  due  to  the  spirit  of  scepticism  encroaching  upon 
the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation.  But  what  is  especially 
worthy  of  remark  is,  that  the  most  illustrious  of  the  advo- 
cates of  toleration  were  men  who  were  earnestly  attached  to 
positive  religion,  and  that  the  writings  in  which  they  em- 
bodied their  arguments  are  even  now  among  the  classics  of 
the  Church.  The  lidiyion  of  Protestants  and  TJie  Liberty 
of  Prophesying  are  justly  regarded  as  among  the  greatest 
glories  of  Anglicanism,  and  Glanvil,  Owen,  and  Hales  are 
still  honoured  names  in  theology.  This  is  well  worthy  of 
notice  when  we  consider  the  unmixed  scepticism  of  those 
who  occupied  a  corresponding  position  in  France  ;  but  there 
is  another  circumstance  which  greatly  heightens  the  contrast. 
At  the  very  period  when  the  principle  of  toleration  was  first 
established  in  England  by  the  union  of  the  spirit  of  scepti- 
cism with  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  the  greatest  living  anti 
Christian  writer  was  Hobbes,  who  was  perhaps  the  most  un- 
fl  inch  ing  of  all  the  supporters  of  persecution.  It  was  his 
leading  doctrine  that  the  civil  power,  and  the  civil  power 
alone,  has  an  absolute  right  to  determine  the  religion  of  the 
nation,  and  that,  therefore,  any  refusal  to  acquiesce  in  that 
religion  is  essentially  an  act  of  rebellion.. 

But  while   the   rationalistic  spirit   had   thus   found   a  firm 


86  BATTCXS  A.LISM   IX    EUROPE. 

footing  within  the  Church,  it  was  strongly  opposed  and 
generally  overborne  by  the  dograo.tic  spirit  which  was  rep- 
resented by  the  great  majority  of  the  clergy,  and  which 
radiated  with  especial  energy  from  Oxford.  Taylor,  as  we 
have  seen,  recoiled  before  the  prevailing  intolei'ance.  Glau- 
vil  sank  into  considerable  discredit,  from  which,  however,  ho 
in  some  degree  emerged  by  his  defence  of  witchcraft.  Here- 
tics were  no  longer  liable  to  be  burnt,  but  all  through  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.  and  during  the  greater  part  of  the  reign 
of  James,  the  Dissenters  endured  every  minor  form  of  per- 
secution. At  last,  James,  irritated  by  the  penal  la\vs  that 
oppressed  his  co-religionists,  determined  to  proclaim  tolera- 
tion with  a  high  hand.  That  he  did  this  solely  with  a  view 
to  the  welfare  of  his  own  Church,  and  not  at  all  from  any 
love  of  toleration,  may  be  inferred  with  considerable  cer- 
tainty from  the  fact  that  he  had  himself  been  one  of  the  most 
relentless  of  persecutors ;  but  it  is  not  impossible,  and,  I 
think,  not  altogether  improbable,  that  he  would  have  ac- 
cepted a  measure  of  toleration  which  relieved  the  Roman 
Catholics,  without  embarking  in  the  very  hazardous  enter- 
prise of  establishing  Catholic  ascendency.  The  sequel  is  too 
well  known  to  require  repetition.  Every  educated  English- 
man knows  how  the  great  majority  of  the  clergy,  in  spite  of 
the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience  they  had  taught,  and  of 
the  Avell-known  decision  of  Taylor  that  even  an  illegal  ordi- 
nance should  be  accepted,  refused  to  read  the  declaration  ; 
hou-  their  attitude  endeared  them  to  the  people,  and  accel- 
erated the  triumph  of  the  Revolution  ;  how  they  soon  im- 
prudently Avithdrow  from  and  opposed  the  movement  they 
had  produced;  how  upon  the  achievement  of  the  Revolu- 
tion they  sank  into  a  condition  of  almost  unequalled  political 
depression;  and  how  the  consequence  of  that  depression 


ON   PERSECUTION.  87 

was  the  Toleration  Act,  which,  though  very  imperfect  ac- 
cording to  our  present  notions,  is  justly  regarded  as  the 
Magna  Charta  of  religious  liberty.  Those  who  defended  it 
were  of  the  same  class  as  the  previous  advocates  of  tolera- 
tion. Somers  and  the  other  leading  Whigs  were  members 
of  the  Anglican  Church.  Locke  was  in  religion  the  avowed 
disciple  of  Cbillingworth,  and  in  politics  the  highest  repre- 
sentative of  the  principles  of  Harrington  ;  and  it  was  on  the 
double  ground  of  the  sanctity  of  an  honest  conviction,  and 
of  the  danger  of  enlarging  the  province  of  the  civil  magis- 
trate, that  he  defended  toleration  against  the  theologians  of 
Oxford.1  While  the  Toleration  Act  and  the  establishment 
of  the  Scotch  Kirk  gave  virtual  freedom  of  worship  to  all 
Protestants,  the  abrogation  of  the  censorship  established 
freedom  of  discussion.  The  battle  Avas  thus  won.  Intoler- 
ance became  an  exception  and  an  anomaly,  and  it  was  simply 
a  question  of  time  how  soon  it  should  be  expelled  from  its 
last  entrenchments. 

We  have  seen  that  the  spirit  of  intolerance  was  at  first 
equally  strong  in  the  Church  of  Koine  and  in  the  reformed 
ci'nrchcs,  and  that  its  extinction  both  in  Catholic  and  Prot- 
estant countries  was  due  to  the  spirit  of  rationalism.  We 
have  seen  that  in  both  cases  the  clergy  were  the  untiring 
enemies  of  this  the  noblest  of  all  the  conquests  of  civilisa- 
tion, and  that  it  was  only  by  a  long  series  of  anti-ecclesiasti- 
cal revolutions  that  the  sword  was  at  last  wnui'j  from  their 
grasp.  We  have  seen,  too,  that  while  the  Church  of  Kome 
was  so  constituted,  that  an  anti-ecclesiastical  movement 
where  she  ruled  invariably  became  antichristian,  the  flexi- 
bility of  Protestantism  was  so  great,  that  rationalism  found 

1  His  opponent  was  Archdeacon  Proast,  whose  pamphlets  were  printed  in 
the  Uuivertfitv. 


38  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

free  scope  for  action  within  its  pale.  Discarding  more  and 
more  their  dogmatic  character,  and  transforming  themselves 
according  to  the  exigencies  of  the  age,  the  churches  of  the 
Reformation  have  in  many  cases  allied  themselves  with  the 
most  daring  speculations,  and  have  in  most  cases  cordially- 
coalesced  with  the  spirit  of  toleration.  When  a  country 
which  is  nominally  Roman  Catholic  is  very  tolerant,  it  may 
be  inferred  with  almost  absolute  certainty  that  the  social  and 
intellectual  influence  of  the  Church  is  comparatively  small ; 
but  England  and  America  conclusively  prove  that  a  nation 
may  be  very  tolerant,  and  at  the  same  time  profoundly  Proi- 
estant.  "\Yhen  in  a  Roman  Catholic  country  the  human  in- 
tellect on  the  highest  of  subjects  pursues  its  course  with 
unshackled  energy,  the  freethinker  is  immediately  severed 
from  the  traditions,  the  worship,  the  moralising  influences  of 
his  Church  ;  but  Germany  has  already  shown,  and  England 
is  beginning  to  show,  that  the  boldest  speculations  may  be 
\vedded  to  a  Protestant  worship,  and  may  iind  elements  of 
assimilation  in  a  Protestant  creed.  It  is  this  fact  which  is 
the  most  propitious  omen  of  the  future  of  Protestantism. 
For  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  theological  antiseptic.  Every 
profound  intellectual  change  the  human  race  lias  yet  under- 
gone, lias  produced  at  least  some  modification  of  all  depart- 
ments of  speculative  belief.  3Fuch  that  is  adapted  to  one 
phase  of  civilisation  becomes  useless  or  pernicious  in  another. 
The  moral  element  of  a  religion  appeals  to  forms  of  emotion 
which  are  substantially  unchanged  by  time,  but  the  intel- 
lectual conceptions  that  are  associated  with  it  assume  their 
tone  and  colour  from  the  intellectual  atmosphere  of  the  age. 
Protestantism  as  a  dogmatic  system  makes  no  converts,  but 
it  has  shown  itself  capable  of  blending  with  and  consecrat- 
ing the  prevailing  rationalism.  Compare  the  series  of  doc- 


ON    PERSECUTION.  89 

trines  I  have  reviewed  in  the  present  chapter  with  the  habit> 
ual  teaching  of  modern  divines,  and  the  change  is  sufficiently 
apparent.  All  those  notions  concerning  the  damnation  of 
unbaptised  infants,  or  of  the  heathen,  or  of  the  heretic, 
which  once  acted  so  great  a  part  in  the  history  of  Christen- 
dom, are  becoming  rapidly  unrealised  and  inoperative,  where 
they  are  not  already  openly  denied.  Xor  has  it  been  other- 
wise with  persecution.  For  centuries  the  Protestant  clergy 
preached  it  as  a  duty ;  when  driven  from  this  position,  they 
almost  invariably  defended  its  less  atrocious  forms,  disguis- 
ing it  under  other  names.  At  last  this  passed  away.  Only 
a  few  years  ago,  six  ladies  Avcre  exiled  from  Sweden  because 
they  had  embraced  the  Koman  Catholic  faith ; 1  but  a  strik- 
ing example  soon  proved  how  uncongenial  were  such  meas- 
ures with  the  Protestantism  of  the  nineteenth  century.  An 
address  drawn  up  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  English  op- 
ponents of  Catholicism,  and  signed  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  protested  against  the  act  as  an  outrage  to  the 
first  principles  of  Protestantism. 

The  history  which  I  have  traced  in  the  present  chapter 
naturally  leads  to  some  reflections  on  the  ultimate  con- 
sequences of  the  rationalistic  method  of  investigation  as 
distinguished  from  the  system  of  coercion.  The  question, 
What  is  truth  ?  lias  certainly  no  prospect  of  obtaining  a 
speedy  answer  ;  but  the  question,  What  is  the  spirit  of  truth? 
may  be  discussed  with  much  greater  prospect  of  agreement. 
By  the  spirit  of  truth,  I  mean  that  frame  of  mind  in  which 

1  Arjtna/rp  >I>s  D?"x  N~<>r,<J.x,  185^,  p.  40-.  In  the  previous  year  (tti 
i'leinpt  had  been  made  by  the  (lovenini'iu  to  moderate  the  tierce  intolerance 
of  the  Swedish  law  ;  but  the  bill,  though  adopted  by  the  II,,uses  of  the  Middle 
Class  and  of  the  Peasants,  was  rejected  by  those  of  the  Nobles  and  of  the 
Clergy.  A  slight — unfbi'tun;itely  very  slight — modification  was  etki'ted  in 
1860. 


90  RATIONALISM    ES"    EUROPE 

men  who  acknowledge  their  own  fallibility,  and  who  desire 
above  all  things  to  discover  what  is  true,  should  adjudicate 
between  conflicting  arguments.  As  soon  as  they  have  dis- 
tinctly perceived  that  reason,  and  reason  alone,  should  deter- 
mine their  opinions,  that  they  never  can  be  legitimately 
certain  of  the  truth  of  what  they  have  been  taught  till  they 
have  both  examined  its  evidence  and  heard  what  can  be  said 
against  it,  and  that  any  influence  that  introduces  a  bias 
of  the  will  is  necessarily  an  impediment  to  enquiry,  the 
whole  theory  of  persecution  falls  at  once  to  the  ground. 
For  the  object  of  the  persecutor  is  to  suppress  one  portion  of 
the  elements  of  discussion  ;  it  is  to  determine  the  judgment 
by  an  influence  other  than  reason  ;  it  is  to  prevent  that  free- 
dom of  enquiry  which  is  the  sole  method  we  possess  of 
arriving  at  truth.  The  persecutor  never  can  be  certain  that 
he  is  not  persecuting  truth  rather  than  error,  but  he  may  be 
quite  certain  that  he  is  suppressing  the  spirit  of  truth.  And 
indeed  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  doctrines  I  have 
reviewed  represent  the  most  skilful,  and  at  the  same  time 
most  successful,  conspiracy  against  that  spirit  that  has  ever 
existed  among  mankind.  Until  the  seventeenth  century, 
every  mental  disposition  Avhich  philosophy  pronounces  to  be 
essential  to  a  legitimate  research  was  almost  uniformly 
branded  as  a  sin,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  most  deadly 
intellectual  vices  were  deliberately  inculcated  as  virtues.  It 
was  a  sin  to  doubt  the  opinions  that  had  been  instilled  in 
childhood  before  they  had  been  examined  ;  it  was  a  virtue 
to  hold  them  with  unwavering,  unreasoning  credulity.  It 
was  a  sin  to  notice  and  develop  to  its  full  consequences 
every  objection  to  those  opinions  ;  it  was  a  virtue  1o  stifle 
every  objection  as  a  suggestion  of  the  devil.  It  was  sinful 
to  study  with  equal  -attention  and  with  an  indifferent  mind 


ON   PERSECUTION.  91 

the  writings  on  both  sides,  sinful  to  resolve  to  follow  the 
light  of  evidence  wherever  it  might  lead,  sinful  to  remain 
poised  in  doubt  between  conflicting  opinions,  sinful  to  give 
only  a  qualified  assent  to  indecisive  arguments,  sinful  even  to 
recognise  the  moral  or  intellectual  excellence  of  opponents. 
Tn  a  word,  there  is  scarcely  a  disposition  that  marks  the  love 
of  abstract  truth,  and  scarcely  a  rule  which  reason  teaches 
as  essential  for  its  attainment,  that  theologians  did  not  for 
centuries  stigmatise  as  offensive  to  the  Almighty.  By  de- 
stroying every  book  that  could  generate  discussion,  by  dif- 
fusing through  every  field  of  knowledge  a  spirit  of  bound- 
less credulity,  and,  above  all,  by  persecuting  with  atrocious 
cruelty  those  who  differed  from  their  opinions,  they  suc- 
ceeded for  a  long  period  in  almost  arresting  the  action  of  the 
European  mind,  and  in  persuading  men  that  a  critical, 
impartial,  and  enquiring  spirit  \vas  the  worst  form  of  vice. 
From  this  frightful  condition  Europe  was  at  last  rescued  by 
the  intellectual  influences  that  produced  the  Reformation,  by 
the  teaching  of  those  great  philosophers  who  clearly  laid 
do\vn  the  conditions  of  enquiry,  and  by  those  bold  innovators 
who,  with  the  stake  of  Bruno  and  Vanini  before  their  eyes, 
dared  to  challenge  directly  the  doctrines. of  the  past.  By 
these  means  the  spirit  of  philosophy  or  of  truth  became 
prominent,  and  the  spirit  of  dogmatism,  with  all  its  conse- 
quences, was  proportionately  weakened.  As  long  as  the 
latter  spirit  possessed  an  indisputable  ascendency,  persecu- 
tion was  ruthless,  universal,  and  unquestioned.  When  the 
former  spirit  became  more  powerful,  the  language  of  anath- 
ema grew  less  peremptory.  Exceptions  and  qualifications 
were  introduced;  the  full  meaning  of  the  words  was  no 
longer  realised;  persecution  became  languid ;  it  changed  its 
character;  it  exhibited  itself  rather  in  a  general  Tendency 


KATTOXALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

than  in  overt  acts;  it  grew  apologelioal,  timid,  and  evasive. 
In  one  age  the  persecutor  burnt  the  heretic  ;  in  another,  he 
crushed  him  with  penal  laws  ;  in  a  third,  he  withheld  from 
him  places  of  emolument  and  dignity;  in  a  fourth,  he  sub- 
jected him  to  the  excommunication  of  society.  Each  stage 
of  advancing  toleration  marks  a  stage  of  the  decline  of  the 
spirit  of  dogmatism  and  of  the  increase  of  the  spiiit  of  truth. 
Xow,  if  I  have  at  all  succeeded  in  carrying  the  reader 
with  me  in  the  foregoing  arguments,  it  will  appear  plain  that 
the  doctrine  of  exclusive  salvation  represents  a  point  from 
which  two  entirely  different  systems  diverge.  In  other 
•words,  those  who  reject  the  doctrine  cannot  pause  there. 
They  will  inevitably  be  carried  on  to  a  series  of  doctrines,  to 
a  general  conception  of  religion,  that  is  radically  and  funda- 
mentally different  from  the  conception  of  the  adherent  of  the 
doctrine.  I  speak  of  course  of  those  who  hold  one  or  other 
opinion  with  realising  earnestness.  Of  these  it  may,  I 
believe,  be  truly  said,  that  according  to  their  relation  to  this 
doctrine  they  will  be  divided  into  different  classes,  with  dif- 
ferent types  of  character,  different  standards  of  excellence, 
different  conceptions  of  the  whole  spirit  of  theology.  The 
man  who  with  realising  earnestness  believes  the  doctrine  of 
exclusive  salvation,  will  habitually  place  the  dogmatic  above 
the  moral  element  of  religion  ;  he  will  justify,  or  at  least 
very  slightly  condemn,  pious  frauds  or  other  immoral  acts 
that  support  his  doctrines  ;  he  Avill  judge  men  mainly  accord 
ing  to  their  opinions,  and  not  according  to  their  acts;  he  wilv 
lay  greater  stress  on  those  duties  that  grow  out  of  an  ecclo 
giastical  system,  than  on  those  which  arrow  but  of  the  moral 
nature  of  mankind  ;  lie  will  obtain,  the  certainty  that  is  neces- 
sary to  his  pi'ace  by  excludinir  every  argument  that  is 
adverse  to  his  belief;  and  he  will  above  all  manifest  a  con- 


ON   PERSECUTION.  93 

etant  tendency  to  persecution.  On  the  other  1  and,  men  who 
have  been  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  earnest  and 
impartial  enquiry,  will  invariably  come  to  value  such  a  dis- 
position more  than  any  particular  doctrines  to  which  it  may 
lead  them  ;  they  will  deny  the  necessity  of  correct  opinions ; 
(hey  will  place  the  moral  far  above  the  dogmatic  side  of  their 
faith ;  they  will  give  free  scope  to  every  criticism  that 
restricts  their  belief;  and  they  will  value  men  according  to 
their  acts,  and  not  at  all  according  to  their  opinions.  The 
first  of  these  tendencies  is  essentially  .Roman  Catholic.  The 
second  is  essentially  ratior.alistic. 

It  is  impossible  I  think  to  doubt  that,  since  Descartes,  the 
higher  thought  of  Europe  has  been  tending  steadily  in  this 
second  direction,  and  that  sooner  or  later  the  spirit  of  truth 
will  be  regarded  in  Christendom,  as  it  was  regarded  by  the 
philosophers  of  ancient  Greece,  as  the  loftiest  form  of  virtue. 
We  are  indeed  still  far  from  that  point.  A  love  of  truth 
that  seriously  resolves  to  spare  no  prejudice  and  accord  no 
favour,  that  prides  itself  on  basing  every  conclusion  on  rea- 
son or  conscience,  and -on  rejecting  every  illegitimate  influ- 
ence, is  not  common  in  one  sex,  is  almost  unknown  in  the 
other,  and  is  very  far  indeed  from  being  the  actuating  spirit 
of  all  who  boast  most  loudly  of  their  freedom  from  prejudice. 
Still  it  is  to  tlus  that  we  are  steadily  approximating ;  and 
there  probably  never  before  was  a  period  since  the  triumph 
of  Christianity,  when  men  were  judged  so  little  according  to 
their  belief,  and  when  history,  and  even  ecclesiastical  history, 
was  written  with  such  earnest,  such  scrupulous  impartiality. 
In  the  political  sphere  the  victory  has  almost  been  achieved. 
In  the  social  sphere,  although  the  amalgamation  of  different 
religious  c  immunities  is  still  very  imperfect,  and  all  hough  a 
chane  of  n  'iion  b  one  member  of  a  famil  not  unliT.jUriiily 


94  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOPE 

produces  a  rupture  and  causes  a  vast  amount  of  the  more 
petty  forms  of  persecution,  the  improvement  has  been  rapid 
and  profound.  The  fierce  invectives  which  Protestant  and 
Catholic  once  interchanged,  are  now  for  the  most  part  con- 
fined to  a  small  and  select  circle  of  the  more  ardent  disciple? 
of  either  creed;  and  it  is  commonly  admitted  among  edu- 
cated men,  that  those  who  under  the  sense  of  duty,  and  at 
the  cost  of  great  mental  suffering,  have  changed  their  re- 
ligion, ought  not  to  be  pronounced  the  most  culpable  of  man- 
kind, even  though  they  have  rejected  the  opinions  of  their 
censor.  This  is  at  least  a  vast  improvement  since  the  time 
when  the  '  miscreant '  was  deemed  a  synonyrne  for  the  misbe- 
liever, and  when  apostasy  was  universally  regarded  as  the 
worst  of  crimes.  Already,  under  the  same  influences,  edu- 
cation at  the  Universities  has  in  a  great  measure  lost  its  old 
exclusive  character ;  and  members  of  different  creeds  having 
been  admitted  within  their  pale,  men  are  brought  in  contact 
with  representatives  of  more  than  one  class  of  opinions  at  a 
•"jme  when  they  are  finally  deciding  what  class  of  opinions 
they  will  embrace.  There  cannot,  I  think,  be  much  doubt 
that  the  same  movement  must  eventually  modify  profoundly 
the  earlier  stages  of  education.  If  our  private  judgment  is 
the  sole  rule  by  which  we  should  form  our  opinions,  it  is  ob- 
viously the  duty  of  the  educator  to  render  that  judgment  as 
powerful,  and  at  the  same  time  to  preserve  it  as  unbiassed, 
as  possible.  To  impose  an  elaborate  system  of  prejudices  on 
the  yet  undeveloped  mind,  and  to  entwine  those  prejudices 
with  all  the  most  hallowed  associations  of  childhood,  is  most 
certainly  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  doctrine  of  private 
judgment.  A  prejudice  may  be  true  or  false;  but  if  private 
judgment  is  to  decide  between  opinions,  it  is,  as  far  as  that 
judgment  is  concerned,  necesarily  an  evil,  and  especially 


ON   PERSECUTION.  95 

when  it  appeals  strongly  to  the  affections.  The  sole  oliject 
of  man  is  not  to  search  for  truth ;  and  it  may  be,  and  un- 
doubtedly often  is,  necessary  for  other  purposes  to  instil  into 
the  mind  of  the  child  certain  opinions,  which  he  will  have 
hereafter  to  reconsider.  Yet  still  it  is  manifest  that  those 
who  appreciate  this  doctrine  of  private  judgment  as  I  have 
described  it,  will  desire  that  those  opinions  should  be  few, 
that  they  should  rest  as  lightly  as  possible  upon  the  mind, 
and  should  be  separated  as  far  as  possible  from  the  eternal 
principles  of  morality. 

Such  seem  the  general  outlines  of  the  movement  around 
us.  Unhappily  it  is  impossible  to  contemplate  it  without 
feeling  that  the  Protestantism  of  Chillingworth  is  much  less 
a  reality  to  be  grasped  than  an  ideal  to  which,  at  least  in  our 
age,  we  can  most  imperfectly  approximate.  The  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  the  human  race  necessarily  accept  their 
opinions  from  authority.  Whether  they  do  so  avowedly, 
like  the  Catholics,  or  unconsciously,  like  most  Protestants,  is 
immaterial.  They  have  neither  time  nor  opportunity  to  ex- 
amine for  themselves.  They  are  taught  certain  clocrines  on 
disputed  questions  as  if  they  were  unquestionable  truths, 
when  they  arc  incapable  of  judging,  and  every  influence  is 
employed  to  deepen  the  impression.  This  is  the  true  origin 
of  their  belief.  Xot  until  long  years  of  mental  conflict  have 
passed  can  they  obtain  the  inestimable  boon  of  an  assured 
find  untrammelled  mind.  The  fable  of  the  ancient l  is  still 
true.  The  woman  even  now  sits  nt  the  portal  of  life,  pre- 
senting a  cup  to  all  who  enter  in  which  diffuses  through 
every  vein  a  poison  that  will  cling  to  them  for  ever.  The 
judgment  may  pierce  the  clouds  of  prejudice  ;  in  the  mo- 
ments of  her  strength  she  may  even  rejoice  and  triumph  in 


06  RATIONALISM   IN    EUEOPE. 

her  liberty ;  yet  the  conceptions  of  childhood  will  long  remain 
latent  in  the  mind,  to  reappear  in  every  hour  of  weakness, 
when  the  tension  of  the  reason  is  relaxed,  and  when  the 
power  of  old  associations  is  supreme.1  It  is  not  surprising 

1  This  very  painful  recurrence,  which  occupies  such  an  important  place  iu 
all  religious  biographies,  seems  to  be  attached  to  an  extremely  remarkable  and 
obscure  department  of  mental  phenomena,  which  has  only  been  investigated 
with  earnestness  within  the  last,  few  years,  and  which  is  termed  by  psycholo- 
gists '  latent  consciousness,'  and  by  physiologists  '  unconscious  cerebration '  or 
the  '  reflex  action  of  the  brain.'  That  certain  facts  remain  so  hidden  in  the 
mind,  that  it  is  only  by  a  strong  act  of  volition  they  can  be  recalled  to  recollec- 
tion, is  a  fact  of  daily  experience ;  but  it  is  now  fully  established  that  a  multi- 
tude of  events  which  are  so  competely  forgotten  that  no  effort  of  will  can  re- 
vive them,  and  that  their  statement  calls  up  no  reminiscence,  may  nevertheless 
be,  so  to  speak,  imbedded  in  the  memory,  and  may  be  reproduced  with  intense 
vividness  under  certain  physical  conditions.  This  is  especially  the  result  of 
some  diseases.  Thus,  e.  g.,  there  is  a  case  on  record  of  an  ignorant  woman 
repeating,  in  a  delirium,  certain  words  which  were  recognised  as  Hebrew  and 
Uialdaic.  When  she  returned  to  consciousness  she  knew  nothing  of  these 
words,  she  had  no  notion  of  their  meaning ;  and  being  told  that  they  were 
Hebrew  and  Chaldaic,  she  could  recollect  no  possible  way  in  which  she  could 
have  acquired  them.  A  searching  investigation  into  her  antecedents  was  in- 
stituted ;  and  it  was  found  that  when  a  girl  she  had  been  servant  to  a  clergy- 
man who  was  accustomed  to  walk  up  and  down  his  passage  reading  those 
languages.  The  words  were  hidden  in  the  mind,  were  reproduced  by  disease, 
and  were  forgotten  when  the  disease  had  passed.  (Carpenter,  Human  Phys- 
iology, p.  SuS.)  It  is  said  that  a  momentary  review  of  numbers  of  long-for- 
gotten incidents  of  life  is  the  last  phenomenon  of  consciousness  before  the 
insensibility  th.it  precedes  drowning.  But  not  only  are  facts  retained  in  tho 
memory  of  which  we  are  uncon-cious,  the  mind  itself  is  also  perpetually  act- 
ing— pursuing  trains  of  thought  automatically,  of  which  we  have  no  conscious- 
nc.-s.  Thus  it  lias  been  often  ol  served,  that  a  subject  which  at  night  appeals 
tangled  and  confused,  acquires  a  perfect  clearness  and  arrangement  during 
•:leep.  Thus  tli!>  schoolboy  knows  that  verses  learnt  by  heart  just  before  sleep 
re  retained  with  much  greater  IV.cility  than  those  which  arc  learnt  at  any  other 
/.ne.  Thus,  in  th  '  course  of  rec<  Ucction,  t\vo  facts  will  often  rise  in  succession 
\»hieh  appear  to  have  no  connection  whatever;  but  a  careful  investigation  \\i\\ 
prove  that  tin-re  is  some  forgotten  link  of  association  which  the  mind  had  pur- 
Miod,  l.'it  of  which  we  were  entirely  unconscious.  It  is  in  connection  with 
these  facts  that  we  should  view  that  reappearance  of  opinions,  modes  of 
thought,  and  emotions  liclonLriiiir  to  a  former  stage  of  our  intellectual  history, 
that  is  often  the  result  of  the  automatical  action  of  the  mind  when  volition  is 


ON    PEKSECUTION.  97 

that  very  few  should  possess  the  courage  and  the  perseverance 
to  encounter  the  mental  struggle.  The  immense  majority 
either  never  examine  the  opinions  they  have  inherited,  or  ex 
amine  them  so  completely  under  the  dominating  influeno: 
of  the  prejudice  of  education,  that  whatever  may  have  been 
tho  doctrines  they  have  been  taught,  they  conclude  that  they 
are  so  unquestionably  true  that  nothing  but  a  judicial  blind- 
ness can  cause  their  rejection.  Of  the  few  who  have  obtained 
a  glimpse  of  higher  tilings,  a  large  proportion  cannot  endure 
a  conflict  to  which  old  associations,  and,  above  all,  the  old 
doctrine  of  the  guilt  of  error,  lend  such  a  peculiar  bitterness  ; 
they  stifle  the  voice  of  reason,  they  turn  away  from  the  path 

altogether  suspended.  It  is  especially  common  (or,  at  least,  especial!  v  mani- 
fest) in  languor,  in  disease,  and,  above  all,  in  sleep.  M.  Maury,  who  bus  in- 
vestigated the  subject  with  his  usual  great  ability,  has  shown  that  in  pleen 
hypertesthesia  of  the  memory  is  very  common;  that  not  only  facts,  mi'  pro- 
cesses of  thought  that  belong  altogether  to  the  past,  are  reproduced  ;  and  that 
a  frequent  dreamer  will  often  be  brought  under  the  influence  of  vices  in  which 
he  had  once  indulged,  but  by  which  in  his  waking  hours  he  is  rarely  or  never 
overcome.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  when  we  are  actively  reasoning  this 
automatic  action  of  the  mind  still  continues,  but  the  ideas  and  tiains  of 
thought  that  are  thus  produced  are  so  combined  and  transformed  by  the  rea- 
son, that  we  are  unconscious  of  their  existence.  They  exist  nevertheless,  and 
form  (or  greatly  contribute  to)  our  mental  bias.  It  is  impossible  to  review  this 
most  suggestive  subject  without  suspecting  that  the  saying,  'habit  is  a  second 
nature,'  represents  more  than  a  metaphor  ;  that  the  reason  is  much  more  closely 
connected  with  the  will  than  is  generally  imagined  ;  and  that  the  ori-in  of 
most  of  those  opinions  we  auributc  to  pure  reasoning,  is  more  composite  than 
we  suppose.  This  important  subject  was  first  incidentally  pointed  out  by 
Leibnitz.  After  his  time  it  seems,  except  in  as  far  as  it  was  connected  with 
the  animism  of  Stahl,  to  have  been  almost  unnoticed  till  very  reccntlv.  Sir 
\V.  Hamilton  (in  his  TLVs'/w)  has  treated  it  from  a  psychological,  and  Drs.  Lay 
cock  (Thu  Jjralii  and  the  M',n<l)  and  Carpenter  (Uu,i-«t>i  Pit Wu/w/v,  pp.  793  • 
819)  from  a  medical,  point  of  view.  Mr.  Moivll.  following  in  the  ^teps  of 
Stalll,  has  availed  himself  nf  it  (M utal  rh''l»Mj>Ji>i)  to  explain  the  laws  of 
generation,  ascribing  the  formation  of  the  fetus  to  the  unconscious  action  oi 
the  soul;  and  M.  Maury  (Lc  So/iini'. il  cf  l< *  ll< '>r.s)  has  shown  its  eomi'-<-tio!i 
with  the  phenomena  of  >leep.  See,  too,  Tissot,  Sar  >n  \"x  •  and  SaisseS 
V Ame  et  !<i,  Vic. 


98  EATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

of  knowledge,  they  purchase  peace  at  the  expense  of  truth. 
This  is,  indeed,  in  our  day,  the  most  fatal  of  all  the  obstacles 
to  enquiry.  It  was  not  till  the  old  world  had  been  reduced  to 
chaos  that  the  divine  voice  said,  'Let  there  be  light ; '  and  in 
the  order  of  knowledge,  as  in  the  order  of  nature,  dissolution 
must  commonly  precede  formation.  There  is  a  period  in  the 
history  of  the  enquirer  when  old  opinions  have  been  shaken 
or  destroyed,  and  new  opinions  have  not  yet  been  formed ;  a 
period  of  doubt,  of  terror,  and  of  darkness,  when  the  voice  of 
the  dogmatist  has  not  lost  its  power,  and  the  phantoms  of 
the  past  still  hover  over  the  mind;  a  period  when  every  land- 
mark is  lost  to  sight,  and  every  star  is  veiled,  and  the  soul 
seems  drifting  helpless  and  rudderless  before  the  destroying 
blast.  It  is  in  this  season  of  transition  that  the  temptations 
to  stifle  reason  possess  a  fearful  power.  It  is  when  contrast- 
ing the  tranquillity  of  past  assurance  with  the  feverish  par- 
oxysms that  accompany  enquiry,  that  the  mind  is  most  likely 
to  abandon  the  path  of  truth.  It  is  so  much  easier  to  assume 
than  to  prove;  it  is  so  much  less  painful  to  believe  than  to 
doubt ;  there  is  such  a  charm  in  the  repose  of  prejudice,  when 
no  discordant  voice  jars  upon  the  harmony  of  belief;  there  is 
such  a  thrilling  pang  when  cherished,  dreams  are  scattered, 
and  old  creeds  abandoned,  that  it  is  not  surprising  that  men 
should  close  their  eyes  to  the  unwelcome  light,  nonce  the 
tenacity  exhibited  by  systems  that  have  long  since  been  dis- 
proved. Hence  the  oscillation  and  timidity  that  charac- 
terise the  research  of  most,  and  the  indifference  to  truth  and 
the  worship  of  expediency  that  cloud  the  fair  promise  of  not 
a  lew. 

In  our  acre  these  struggles  are  diffused  over  a  very  wide 
circle,  and  arc  felt  by  men  of  many  grades  of  intellect.  This 
fact,  however,  while  it  accounts  for  the  perturbation  and 


ON   PERSECUTION.  99 

instability  that  characterise  a  large  portion  of  contemporary 
literature,  should  materially  lighten  the  burden  of  each 
individual  enquirer.  The  great  majority  of  the  ablest  intel- 
lects of  the  century  have  preceded  him,  and  their  genius 
irradiates  the  path.  The  hands  of  many  sympathisers  are 
extended  to  assist  him.  The  disintegration  around  him  will 
facilitate  his  course.  He  who,  believing  that  the  search  for 
truth  can  never  be  oifensive  to  the  God  of  truth,  pursues  his 
way  with  an  unswerving  energy,  may  not  unreasonably  hope 
that  he  may  assist  others  in  their  struggle  towards  the  light, 
and  may  in  some  small  degree  contribute  to  that  consumma- 
tion when  the  professed  belief  shall  have  been  adjusted  to  the 
requirements  of  the  age,  when  the  old  tyranny  shall  have 
been  broken,  and  the  anarchy  of  transition  shall  have  pissed 
away. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   SECULARISATION   OF  POLITICS. 

THE  evidence  I  have  collected  in  the  preceding-  chapt*  cs 
will  be  sufficient  to  exhibit  the  nature  of  the  rationalistic 
movement,  and  also  the  process  by  which  it  has  been  devel- 
oped. To  establish  the  first,  I  have  reviewed  a  long  series 
of  theological  conceptions  which  the  movement  has  weakened 
or  transformed.  To  establish  the  second,  I  have  shown  that 
the  most  important  changes  were  much  less  the  results  of 
direct  controversy  than  of  the  attraction  of  the  prevailing 
modes  of  thought,  which  themselves  represented  the  conver- 
gence of  a  great  variety  of  theological  influences.  In  the 
remainder  of  this  work,  I  propose  to  trace  more  fully  than  I 
have  yet  had  occasion  to  do,  the  relations  of  the  rationalistic 
movement  to  the  political  and  economical  history  of  Europe; 
or,  in  other  words,  to  show  on  the  one  hand  how  the  theo- 
logical development  has  modified  political  and  economical 
theories;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  how  the  tendencies  pro- 
duced by  these  have  reacted  upon  theology. 

But,  before  entering  upon  this  field,  it  will  perhaps  not  hr 
altogether  unnecessary  to  remind  the  reader  once  more  of  the 
main  principle  upon  which  the  relevance  of  this  species  of 
narrative  depends.  It  is  that  the  speculative  opinions  which 
are  embraced  by  any  large  body  of  men  are  accepted  not  ou 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  101 

account  of  the  arguments  upon  which  they  rest,  but  on 
account  of  a  predisposition  to  receive  them.  This  predispo- 
sition depends  with  many  persons  entirely  upon  the  circum- 
stances of  <  heir  position,  that  is  to  say,  upon  the  associations 
of  childhood,  friendship,  or  interest,  and  is  of  such  a  nature 
as  altogether  to  dispense  with  arguments.  With  others,  it 
depends  chiefly  upon  the  character  of  their  minds,  which 
induces  them  to  embrace  one  class  of  arguments  rather  than 
another.  This  intellectual  character,  again,  results  partly  from 
natural  and  innate  peculiarities,  and  partly  from  the  totality  of 
influences  that  act  upon  the  mind.  For  the  mind  of  man  is  no 
inert  receptacle  of  knowledge,  but  absorbs  and  incorporates 
into  its  own  constitution  the  ideas  which  it  receives.  In  a 
healthy  condition,  increased  knowledge  implies  an  increased 
mental  capacity,  and  each  peculiar  department  of  study  not 
merely  comprises  a  peculiar  kind  of  information,  but  also 
produces  a  peculiar  ply  and  tendency  of  judgment.  All 
minds  are  more  or  less  governed  by  what  chemists  term  the 
laws  of  elective  affinity.  Like  naturally  tends  to  like.  The 
predominating  passion  of  every  man  colours  the  whole  train 
of  his  reasoning,  and  in  every  subject  he  examines,  he 
instinctively  turns  to  that  aspect  which  is  most  congruous  to 
his  favourite  pursuit. 

If  this  be  so,  we  should  naturally  expect  that  politics, 
which  occupy  so  large  a  place  in  the  minds  of  men,  should  at 
all  times  have  exercised  a  considerable  influence  on  the  tone 
of  thought  from  which  theological  opinions  arise,  and  that  a 
general  tendency  to  restrict  the  province  of  theology  should 
have  resulted  in  a  secularisation  of  politics.  In  the  present 
chapter,  I  shall  examine  the  stages  of  that  secularisation  and 
the  minor  changes  that  are  connected  with  it.  The  subject 
will  naturally  divide  itself  into  two  parts.  We  shall  tirst  see 


iu2  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

how  theological  iuterests  gradually  ceased  to  be  a  main 
object  of  political  combinations ;  and  afterwards,  how,  by 
the  repudiation  of  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  the  assertion 
of  the  social  contract,  the  basis  of  authority  was  secularised. 

If  we  take  a  broad  view  of  the  course  of  history,  and  ex- 
amine the  relations  of  great  bodies  of  men,  we  find  that  r'3 
ligion  and  patriotism  are  the  chief  moral  influences  to  whi<  h 
they  have  been  subject,  and  that  the  separate  modifications 
and  mutual  interaction  of  these  two  agents  may  almost  be 
said  to  constitute  the  moral  history  of  mankind.  For  some 
centuries  before  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  patriotism 
was  in  most  countries  the  presiding  moral  principle,  and  re- 
ligion occupied  an  entirely  subordinate  position.  Almost  all 
those  examples  of  heroic  self-sacrifice,  of  passionate  devotion 
to  an  unselfish  aim,  which  antiquity  affords,  were  produced 
by  the  spirit  of  patriotism.  Decius  and  Regulus,  Leonidas 
and  Harmodius,  are  the  pagan  parallels  to  Christian  martyrs.1 
Xor  was  it  only  in  the  great  crises  of  national  history  that 
this  spirit  was  evoked.  The  pride  of  patriotism,  the  sense  of 
dignity  which  it  inspires,  the  close  bond  of  sympathy  pro- 
duced by  a  common  aim,  the  energy  and  elasticity  of  charac- 
ter which  are  the  parents  of  great  enterprises,  were  manifest- 
ed habitually  in  the  leading  nations  of  antiquity.  The  spirit 
of  patriotism  pervaded  all  classes.  It  formed  a  distinct  type 
of  character,  and  was  the  origin  both  of  many  virtues  and  of 
many  vices. 

If  we  attempt  to  estimate  the  moral  condition  of  such  a 
pliase  of  society,  we  must  in  some  respects  place  it  extremely 

1  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  first  development  of  sculpture,  which  in 
almost  all  other  nations  was  religious,  in  Koine  appears  to  have  been  patriotic-  — 
the  objects  of  representation  being  not  the  jrods,  but  the  true  national  ideals, 
the  heroes  of  Koine.  (sft-e  0.  M  tiller,  Manud  d'Archeoloyk,  vol.  i  pp.  251, 
252.) 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POI  [TICS.  103 

high.  Patriotism  lias  always  proved  the  best  cordial  of  Lv 
nianity,  and  all  the  sterner  and  more  robust  virtues  were  de- 
veloped to  the  highest  degree  by  its  power.  Xo  other  influ- 
ence diffuses  abroad  so  much  of  that  steady  fortitude  which 
is  equally  removed  from  languor  and  timidity  on  the  one 
hand,  and  from  feverish  and  morbid  excitement  upon  the 
other.  In  nations  that  have  been  long  pervaded  by  a  strong 
and  continuous  political  life,  the  pulse  beats  high  and  steadi- 
ly ;  habits  of  self-reliance  are  formed  which  enable  men  to 
confront  danger  with  a  calm  intrepidity,  and  to  retain  a  cer- 
tain sobriety  of  temperament  amidst  the  most  trying  vicissi- 
tudes. A  capacity  for  united  action,  for  self-sacrifice,  for 
long  and  persevering  exertion,  becomes  general.  A  high, 
though  sometimes  rather  capricious,  standard  of  honour  is 
formed,  and  a  stern  simplicity  of  habits  encouraged.  It  is 
probable  that  in  the  best  days  of  the  old  classic  republics  the 
passions  of  men  were  as  habitually  under  control,  national 
tastes  as  simple  and  chastened,  and  acts  of  heroism  as  fre- 
quent and  as  grand,  as  in  the  noblest  periods  of  subsequent 
history.  Xevcr  did  men  pass  through  life  with  a  more  ma- 
jestic dignity,  or  meet  death  with  a  more  unfaltering  calm. 
The  full  sublimity  of  the  old  classic  type  has  never  been  re- 
produced in  its  perfection,  but  the  spirit  that  formed  it  has 
often  breathed  over  the  feverish  struggles  of  modern  life,  and 
has  infused  into  society  a  heroism  and  a  fortitude  that  have 
proved  the  invariable  precursors  of  regeneration. 

All  this  was  produced  among  nations  that  were  notorious- 
ly deficient  in  religious  feeling,  and  had,  indeed,  degraded 
their  religion  into  a  mere  function  of  the  State.  The  disin- 
terested enthusiam  of  patriotism  had  pervaded  and  animated 
them,  and  had  called  into  habitual  action  many  of  the  noblest 
moral  capacities  of  mankind. 


104  RATIONALISM   IX    EUROPE. 

To  this  picture  there  is,  however,  a  melancholy  reverse 
If  the  ancient  civilisations  exhibited  to  a  very  high  degree 
the  sterner  virtues,  they  were  preeminently  deficient  in  the 
gentler  ones.  The  pathos  of  life  was  habitually  repressed. 
Suffering  and  weakness  met  with  no  sympathy  and  no  assist- 
ance. The  slave,  the  captive,  the  sick,  the  helpless,  were  treat- 
ed  with  cold  indifference,  or  with  merciless  ferocity.  The 
hospital  and  the  refuge  for  the  afflicted  were  unknown.  The 
spectacle  of  suffering  and  of  death  was  the  luxury  of  all 
classes.  An  a.lmost  absolute  destruction  of  the  finer  sensi- 
bilities was  the  consequence  of  the  universal  worship  offeree. 
The  sentiment  of  reverence  was  almost  extinguished.  The 
existence  of  the  gods  was,  indeed,  recognised,  but  the  ideals 
of  excellence  were  not  sought  on  the  heights  of  Olympus,  but 
in  the  annals  of  Roman  prowess.  There  was  no  sense  of  the 
superhuman,  no  conception  of  sin,  no  desire  to  rise  above  the 
tilings  of  earth;  pride  Avas  deemed  the  greatest  of  virtues, 
ami  humility  the  most  contemptible  of  weaknesses.  The 
welfare  of  the  State  being  the  highest  object  of  unselfish  de- 
votion, virtue  and  vice  were  often  measured  by  that  standard, 
and  the  individual  was  habitually  sacrificed  to  the  community. 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  vice  of  the  old  form  of  patriot- 
ism was  the  narrowness  of  sympathy  which  it  produced. 
Outside  the  circle  of  their  own  nation  all  men  were  regarded 
with  contempt  and  indifference,  if  not  with  absolute  hostility. 
Conquest  was  the  one  recognised  form  of  national  progress, 
and  the  interests  of  nations  were,  therefore,  regarded  as  di- 
rectly opposed.  The  intensity  with  which  a  man  loved  his 
country  was  a  measure  of  the  hatred  which  he  bore  to  those 
who  were  without  it.  The  enthusiasm  which  produced  the1 
noblest  virtue  in  a  narrow  circle  was  the  direct  and  powerful 
cause  of  the  strongest  international  antipathies 


THK    SECULARISATION    OF   POLITICS.  105 

In  Judaea  the  religious  system  occupied  a  more  prominent 
position  than  among  the  Greeks  or  Romans,  but  it  had  been 
indissolubly  connected  with  national  interests,  and  the  at- 
tachment to  it  was  in  reality  only  a  form  and  aspect  ot 
patriotism.  Whatever  opinion  may  be  held  as  to  whether  a 
future  life  wras  intended  to  be  among  the  elements  of  the  Le- 
vitical  I'evelation,  there  can  be  no  question  that  the  piimary 
incentives  which  that  revelation  offered  were  of  a  patriotic 
order.  The  devotion  of  the  people  to  their  religious  system 
was  to  be  the  measure  of  their  national  prosperity.  When 
their  faith  burnt  with  a  strong  and  unsullied  flame,  every 
enemy  succumbed  beneath  their  arms;  but  whenever  idol- 
atry had  corrupted  their  devotions,  a  hostile  army  encircled 
Moitnt  Moriah.  All  the  traditions  of  their  religion  were 
identified  with  splendid  national  triumphs.  The  rescue  from 
Egypt,  the  conquest  of  Canaan  and  the  massacre  of  its  in- 
habitants, the  long  series  of  inspired  warriors  who  had 
broken  the  chains  of  a  foreign  master,  the  destruction  of  the 
hosts  of  the  Assyrian,  the  numerous  vicissitudes  of  national 
fortune,  had  all  contributed  to  interweave  in  the  Jewish 
mind  the  association  of  the  Church  and  of  the  State.  The 
spirit  of  sect,  or  an  attachment  not  to  abstract  principles  but 
to  a  definite  and  organised  ecclesiastical  institution,  is  a  spirit 
essentially  similar  to  patriotism,  but  is  directed  to  a  different 
object,  and  is  therefore  in  most  cases  hostile  to  it.  In 
Jiidtea  the  spirit  of  patriotism  and  the  spirit  of  sect  were 
united  ;  each  intensified  the  other,  and  the  exclusive  intol- 
erance which  is  the  result  of  each  existed  with  double  vir- 
ulence. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Pagan  and  Jewish  world 
when  the  sublime  doctrine  of  universal  brotherhood  was 
preached  to  mankind.  After  eighteen  hundred  ye;irs  men 


106  RATIONALISM    IN   EUROPE. 

are  only  beginning  to  realise  it,  and  at  the  time  when  it  waa 
first  proclaimed  it  was  diametrically  opposed  to  the  most 
cherished  prejudices  of  the  age. 

In  Judsea  the  spirit  of  an  exclusive  patriotism  not  only 
pervaded  the  national  mind,  but  was  also  at  this  period  au 
intensely  active  moral  principle.  In  the  Roman  Empire 
patriotism  was  little  more  than  an  intellectual  conception ; 
society  was  in  a  condition  of  moral  dissolution,  and  a  disin 
terested  enthusiasm  was  unknown.  The  fortunes  of  the  in- 
fant Church  were,  probably,  in  no  slight  measure  determined 
by  these  circumstances.  In  Juda?a  it  was  rejected  with  in- 
dignant scorn.  In  the  Roman  Empire  it  obtained  a  marvel- 
lous triumph,  but  it  triumphed  only  by  transforming  itself 
under  the  influence  of  the  spirit  of  sect.  The  passion  for  the 
visible  and  material  which  in  that  age  it  was  impossible  to  es- 
cape— which  incrusted  the  teachings  of  the  Church  with  an 
elaborated  and  superstitious  ritualism,  designed  to  appeal  to 
and  enthral  the  senses,  and  converted  its  simple  moral  prin- 
ciples into  a  complicated  creed — acted  with  equal  force  upon 
its  government,  and  transformed  it  into  a  highly  centralised 
monarchy,  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of  exclusiveness  very  similar 
to  that  which  had  animated  the  old  Roman  republic.  The 
spirit  of  sect  was,  indeed,  far  stronger  and  more  virulent 
than  the  most  envenomed  spirit  of  nationality.  The  ancient 
patriot  regarded  nations  that  were  beyond  his  border  with 
indifference,  or  with  a  spirit  of  rivalry;  but  the  priest  de- 
clared every  one  who  rejected  his  opinions  to  be  a  criminal. 

From  this  period  for  many  centuries  Catholicism,  consid- 
ered as  an  ecclesiastical  organisation,  was  the  undisputed 
mistress  of  Europe  ;  national  feelings  scarcely  ever  came  into 
collision  with  its  interests,  and  the  whole  current  of  affairs 
was  directed  by  theology.  When,  however,  the  first  breath- 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  107 

ings  of  the  spirit  of  Rationalism  were  felt  in  Europe,  when, 
under  the  influence  of  that  spirit,  dogmatic  interests  began  to 
wane,  and  their  paramount  importance  to  be  questioned,  a 
new  tendency  was  manifested.  The  interests  of  the  Church 
were  subordinated  to  those  of  the  State.  Theology  was  ban- 
ished from  department  after  department  of  politics,  until  the 
whole  system  of  government  was  secularised. 

The  period  in  which  political  affairs  were  most  completely 
governed  by  theological  considerations  was  unquestionably 
the  age  of  the  Crusades.  It  was  no  political  anxiety  about 
the  balance  of  power,  but  an  intense  religious  enthusiasm, 
that  impelled  the  inhabitants  of  Christendom  towards  the 
city  which  was  at  once  the  cradle  and  the  symbol  of  their 
faith.  All  interests  were  then  absorbed,  all  classes  were 
governed,  all  passions  subdued  or  coloured  by  religious 
fervour.  National  animosities  that  had  raged  for  centuries 
were  pacified  by  its  power.  The  intrigues  of  statesmen  and 
the  jealousies  of  kings  disappeared  beneath  its  influence. 
Nearly  two  millions  of  lives  are  said  to  have  been  sacrificed 
in  the  'cause.  Neglected  governments,  exhausted  finances, 
depopulated  countries,  were  cheerfully  accepted  as  the  price 
of  success.  No  wars"  the  world  had  ever  before  seen  were  so 
popular  as  these,  which  were  at  the  same  time  the  most  dis- 
astrous and  the  most  unselfish. 

Long  before  the  Reformation  such  wars  as  the  Crusades 
had  become  impossible,  and  the  relative  prominence  of  secu- 
lar policy  had  materially  increased.  This  was  in  part  the 
result  of  the  better  organisation  of  the  civil  government, 
which  rendered  unnecessary  some  of  the  services  the  Church 
had  previously  rendered  to  the  community.  Thus,  when  the 
general  tolerance  of  private  wars  had  produced  a  condition 
of  anarchy  that  rendered  all  the  relations  of  life  insecure,  thn 


108  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOl'E. 

CImrcli  interposed  and  proclaimed  in  the  eleventh  century 
the  '  Truce  of  God,'  which  was  the  first  effective  barrier  to 
the  lawlessness  of  the  barons.  Her  bishops  became  the  arbi« 
trators  of  every  quarrel,  and  succeeded  in  a  great  measure  in 
calming  the  ferocity  of  the  age.  But  when  this  object  wa« 
in  part  attained,  and  when  the  regal  power  was  consolidated, 
the  Truce  of  God,  in  spite  of  many  attempts  to  revive  it,1  fell 
rapidly  into  desuetude,  and  the  preservation  of  tranquillity 
passed  from  the  ecclesiastical  to  the  civil  government.  This 
is  but  a  single  example  of  a  process  that  was  continually 
going  on  during  the  latter  half  of  the  middle  ages.  The 
Church  had  formerly  exercised  nearly  every  function  of  the 
civil  government,  on  account  of  the  inefficiency  of  the  lay 
governors;  and  every  development  of  secular  administration, 
while  it  relieved  the  ecclesiastics  of  a  duty,  deprived  them 
of  a  source  of  power. 

But,  besides  the  diminution  of  influence  that  resulted  from 
this  cause,  the  Church  for  many  centuries  found  a  strenuous 
antagonist  in  the  regal  power.  The  famous  history  of  the 
investitures,  and  the  equally  remarkable,  though  less  famous, 
ordinance  by  which  in  1319  all  bishops  Avere  expelled  from 
the  Parliament  of  Paris,  arc  striking  examples  of  the  energy 
with  which  the  conflict  was  sustained.  Its  issue  depended 
mainly  on  the  superstition  of  the  people.  In  a  profoundly 
superstitious  age  neither  skill  nor  resolution  could  resist  the 
effects  of  an  excommunication  or  an  interdict,  and  the  most 
illustrious  monarchs  of  the  middle  ages  succumbed  beneath 
their  power.  But  some  time  before  the  Reformation  their 
terror  was  in  a  great  measure  destroyed.  The  rapid  growth 

1  ]t  \v;is  eo:)(irinfl  as  part  of  the  general  law  of  the  Church  by  Alexander 
III.  in  117'.'.  Sec  Dueellier,  Hint,  dcs  Clashes  Laborieuses  fi  France,  pp.  87- 
B9,  127,  128. 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  109 

of  the  iudustrial  classes,  which  were  at  all  times  separated 
from  theological  tendencies,  the  revival  of  a  spirit  of  bold 
and  unshackled  enquiry,  and  the  discredit  that  had  fallen 
upon  the  Church  on  account  of  the  rival  popes,1  and  of  the 
corruption  of  the  monasteries,  were  the  chief  causes  of  the 
emancipation.  The  Reformation  was  only  possible  when  the 
old  superstitions  had  been  enfeebled  by  the  spirit  of  doubt, 
and  dihited  by  the  admixture,  of  secular  interests.  Kings 
then  availed  themselves  gladly  of  the  opportunity  of  throw- 
ing off  the  restraints  of  the  Papacy.  Patriots  rebelled  against 
the  supremacy  of  a  foreign  power.  The  lay  classes  wel- 
comed a  change  by  which  the  pressure  of  the  clergy  was 
lightened. 

A  comparison  of  the  religious  wars  produced  by  the  Re- 
formation with  the  Crusades  shows  clearly  the  great  change 
that  had  passed  over  the  spirit  of  Europe.  The  Crusades 
had  been  purely  religious.  They  represented  solely  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  people  for  dogmatic  interests,  and  they  were 
maintained  for  more  than  two  centuries  by  an  effort  of  unex- 
ampled self-sacrifice.  In  the  religious  wars,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  secular  and  the  ecclesiastical  elements  were  very 
evenly  balanced.  The  object  sought  was  political  power, 
but  difference  of  religious  belief  formed  the  lines  of  demarca- 
tion separating  the  hostile  coalitions,  and  created  the  enthusi- 
asm by  which  the  struggle  was  maintained.  The  spirit  of 
the  theologian  was  sufficiently  powerful  to  inundate  Europe 
with  blood,  but  only  when  united  with  the  ambition  of  the 
politician.  Yet  dogmatic  agreement  still  formed  the  prin- 
ciple of  alliance,  and  all  cooperation  with  heretics  was  deemed 
a  sin. 

This  phase  of  opinions  continued  for  more  than  a  century 

1  Mably    Observations  mr  I'lHsti/ire  Jc  France,  liv.  iv.  c.  v. 


110  NATIONALISM    IiST    EUEOPE. 

after  the  Reformation.  It  passed  away  under  the  pressure 
of  advancing  civilisation,  but  not  before  the  ministry  of  Riche- 
lieu ;  for  although  Francis  I.  had  made  an  alliance  with  the 
Turks,  and  a  few  other  sovereigns  had  exhibited  a  similar 
indifference  to  the  prevailing  distinctions,  their  policy  was 
rarely  successful.  Even  at  the  last,  the  change  was  only 
effected  with  considerable  difficulty,  and  Italy,  Spain,  Ger- 
many, and  the  Netherlands  swarmed  with  writings  denounc- 
ing the  alliance  of  the  French  with  the  Swedes  as  little  short 
of  an  apostasy  from  Christianity.  A  book  entitled  '  3fars 
GallicusJ  and  published  in  1635,  under  the  pseudonyme  of 
Alexander  Patricius  Armacanus,  was  especially  singled  out 
as  the  most  conclusive  demonstration  of  the  sinfulness  of  al- 
liances witli  heretics,  and  it  marks  the  first  dawn  of  the  repu- 
tation of  one  who  was  destined  to  exercise  a  deep  and  lasting 
influence  over  the  fortunes  of  the  Church.  It  was  written  by 
Jansenius,  who  owed  to  it  his  promotion  to  the  bishopric  of 
Ypres.1  But  the  genius  of  Richelieu,  seconded  by  the  intellec- 
tual influences  of  the  age,  prevailed  over  every  difficulty  ;  and 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia  is  justly  regarded  as  closing  the  era 
of  religious  wars.  The  invasion  of  Holland  by  Louis  XIV. 
was  near  becoming  one,  and  religious  fanaticism  has  more  than 
once  lent  its  aid  to  other  modern  struggles;'  but  wars  like 
those  which  once  distracted  Europe  have  become  almost  im- 
possible. Among  all  the  elements  of  affinity  and  repulsion 
that  regulate  the  combinations  of  nations,  dogmatic  interests, 
which  were  once  supreme,  can  scarcely  be  said  to  exi^t. 
Among;  all  the  possible  dangers  that  cloud  the  horizon,  none 


1   Avis  any.  Ilrj"j'»r.,  p.  50  (,.-d.  10i.H). 

a  E.  jr.  the  reci-iit  invar-ion  of  Morocco  by  the  Spaniards.     On  the  rolicrioug 
Character  Louis  XIV.  tried  to   give  the  invasion  of   Holland,    see  Michelet, 

I  A.  vis  AY  r. 


TUB   SECULARISATION    OF   POLITICS.  Ill 

appears  more  improbable  than  a  coalition  formed  upon  the 
principle  of  a  common  belief,  and  designed  to  extend  the 
sphere  of  its  influence.  Such  coalitions  were  once  the  most 
serious  occupations  of  statesmen.  They  now  exist  only  in 
the  speculations  of  the  expounders  of  prophecy. 

It  was  in  this  way  that,  in  the  course  of  a  few  centuries, 
the  foreign  policy  of  all  civilised  nations  was  completely  and 
finally  secularised.  Wars  that  were  once  regarded  as  simple 
duties  became  absolutely  impossible.  Alliances  that  were 
once  deemed  atrocious  sins  became  habitual  and  unchallenged. 
That  which  had  long  been  the  centre  around  which  all  other 
interests  revolved,  receded  and  disappeared,  and  a  profound 
change  in  the  actions  of  mankind  indicated  a  profound  change 
in  their  belief. 

I  have  already  noticed  the  decline  of  that  religious  perse- 
cution which  was  long  the  chief  sign  and  measure  of  ecclesi- 
astical influence  over  the  internal  policy  of  nations.  There 
is,  however,  one  aspect  of  the  Inquisition  which  I  have  not 
referred  to,  for  it  belongs  to  the  subject  of  the  present  chapter 
• — I  mean  its  frequent  hostility  to  the  civil  power. 

Before  the  thirteenth  century,  the  cognisance  of  heresy 
was  divided  between  the  bishop  and  the  civil  magistrate. 
The  Church  proclaimed  that  it  Avas  a  crime  more  deadly  than 
any  civil  offence,  and  that  it  should  be  punished  according 
to  its  enormity;  the  bishop  accused  the  heretic,  and  the 
magistrate  tried  and  condemned  him.  During  the  earliei 
part  of  the  middle  ages,  this  arrangement,  which  had  beeu 
that  of  the  Theodosian  Code,  was  accepted  without  difficulty. 
The  civil  government  was  then  very  submissive,  and  hcreti<-> 
almost  unknown,  the  few  cases  that  appeared  being  usually 
resolved  into  magic.  AY  lien,  however,  at  the  close  of  the 
twelfth  ctntury,  a  spirit  of  rebellion  against  the  Church  had 


112  RATION ALISM   IX    EUROPE. 

been  widely  diffused,  the  Popes  perceived  that  some  more 
energetic  system  was  required,  and  among  the  measures  that 
were  devised  the  principal  was  the  Inquisition,  which  was  in- 
tended not  merely  to  suppress  heresy,  but  also  to  enlarge  the 
circle  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. 

This  new  tribunal1  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  two 
leligious  orders  of  St.  Dominick  and  St.  Francis,  and  its  first 
object  was  to  monopolise  the  trials  of  cases  of  heresy.  The 
bishop  of  the  diocese  had  a  certain  position  in  the  local  tribu- 
nal, but  it  was  generally  little  more  than  honorary,  and  was 
entirely  subordinate  to  that  of  the  chief  Inquisitor.  The  civil 
government  Avas  only  represented  by  an  'Assessor,'  and  by 
some  minor  officers  appointed  by  the  Inquisitor  himself,  and 
its  function  was  merely  to  execute  those  whom  the  ecclesias- 
tics had  condemned.  A  third  of  the  confiscated  goods  was 
bestowed  upon  the  district  where  the  trial  took  place,  which 
in  its  turn  was  to  bear  the  expenses  of  the  confinement  of  the 
prisoners.  To  crown  all,  the  society  was  centralised  by  the 
appointment  of  an  Inquisitor-General  at  Rome,  with  whom 
all  the  brandies  of  the  tribunal  were  to  be  in  constant  com- 
munication. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  organization,  in  addition  to  its  re- 
ligious importance,  had  a  very  great  political  importance.  It 
transferred  to  ecclesiastics  a  branch  of  jurisdiction  which  had 
always  been  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  civil  power,  and  it 
introduced  into  every  country  where  it  was  acknowledged,  a 
corporation  of  extraordinary  powers  entirely  dependent  on  a 
foreign  potentate.  The  Inquisitors  early  found  a  powerful, 
though  somewhat  encroaching,  friend  in  the  Emperor  Fred- 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    IOLITICS.  113 

erick  II.,  who  in  1224  issued  four  edicts  at  Padua,  in  which 
he  declaimed  himself  their  protector,  commanded  that  all  ob- 
stinate heretics  should  be  burnt,  and  all  penitent  heretics  im- 
prisoned for  life,  and  delegated  the  investigation  of  the  crime 
to  the  ecclesiastics,  though  the  power  of  pronouncing  the 
condemnation  was  reserved  to  the  secular  judge.  In  the  first 
half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  new  tribunal  was  intro- 
duced into  Lombardy,  the  Marches,  "Romagna,  Tuscany,  the 
Balearic  Isles,  Aragon,  and  some  of  the  cities  of  France  and 
Germany.  In  Xaples,  however,  the  hostility  of  the  king  to 
the  Pope,  and  the  spirit  of  the  people,  resisted  it.  In  Venice, 
too,  the  magistrates  long  refused  to  admit  it,  and  heretics 
v/ere  burnt  on  the  designation  of  the  bishop,  and  by  sentence 
of  the  Doge  and  of  the  majority  of  the  Supreme  Council, 
until  1289,  when  the  government  yielded,  and  the  Inquisi- 
tion was  introduced,  though  with  some  slight  restrictions 
favourable  to  the  civil  power.1  In  Spain,  owing  to  the  com- 
bination of  a  very  strong  Catholic  and  a  very  strong  national 
feeling,  it  assumed  a  somewhat  peculiar  form.  There,  as 
elsewhere,  it  was  an  essentially  ecclesiastical  institution, 
created,  extended,  and  modified  under  the  express  sanction  of 
the  Pope  ;  but  the  Inquisitor-General  and  the  Chief  Council 
were  appointed  by  the  sovereign,  subject  to  the  papal  con- 
firmation;  and  the  famous  prosecution  of  Antonio  Perez, 
which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  the  liberties  of  Aragon, 
furnishes  an  example,  though  perhaps  a  solitary  one,  of  its 
employment  merely  as  a  political  tool.2  At  first  its  jurisdio- 

1  Sarpi,  pp.  48-57  (cd.  UViOj. 

8  This  curious  episode  lias  hn-n  lati  Iv  investigated  by  M.  Micrnet  in  an 
Interesting  work  called  A.ntonio  Peres.  One  of  the  accusations  brought  airainst 
Perez  was,  that  lie  had  in  a  moment  of  pa~r-i<>n  exclaimed,  thai  'if  (MM!  tlio 
Father  had  ventured  to  say  to  him  what  the  Kini:  had  said,  he  would  have  cm 
his  nose  oft','  which  the  Inquisitors  said  'partook  of  the  hciv.-y  "f  the  Anting 


114  RATIONALISM   IX    EUROPE. 

tion  was  confined  to  the  land,  and  many  sailors  of  different 
religions  had  enrolled  themselves  in  the  Spanish  navy;  but 
in  1571  Sixtus  V.,  at  the  request  of  Philip  II.,  appointed  a 
special  Inquisitor  to  preside  over  the  navy,1  who  speedily 
restored  its  orthodoxy.  By  Spanish  influence  the  tribunal 
was  extended  to  the  Xetherlands,  to  the  Xew  "\Vorld,  to 
Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Malta. 

It  is  said  in  the  legend  of  St.  Doruinick  that  his  mother, 
when  in  the  season  of  childbirth,  dreamed  that  a  dog  was 
about  to  issue  from  her  womb,  bearing  a  lighted  torch  that 
would  kindle  the  whole  world ;  and  certainly  the  success  of 
the  Inquisition  well-nigh  fulfilled  the  portent.8  For  two  or 
three  centuries  its  extension  was  the  main  object  of  the  papal 
policy  ;  it  was  what  the  struggle  of  the  investitures  had  been 
in  the  preceding  age,  the  chief  form  which  the  spirit  of  eccle- 
sastical  encroachment  assumed  ;  and  during  this  long  period 
there  was  probably  not  a  single  pope  who  did  not  expressly 
eulogise  it.  But  although  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  pow- 
erful blow  was  thus  given  to  heresy,  it  may  well  be  questioned 
whether  the  papal  policy  was  not,  on  the  whole,  shortsighed, 
for  the  Inquisition  probably  contributed  largely  to  the  ulti- 
mate secularisation  of  politics.  Before  its  institution  no  one 
doubted  that  the  investigation  and  punishment  of  heresy 
formed  one  of  the  first  duties  of  the  civil  government,  but  by 
the  Inquisition  the  two  things  were  slightly  separated.  The 
cognisance  of  heresy  was  in  a  measure  withdrawn  from  the 

pomorphitt/s  and  of  the  Vaudois,  who  maintain  that  the  Father  lias  bodily 
part-.' 

1  P.miiTio,  Jjf   fh-'f.'i/ie  L~n]n'»<it'(i>riis,  pp.  224-226.     This  was  perhaps  one 
cause  of  the  decline  of  the  Spanish  navy. 

2  The  Inquisition  was  not.  it  is  true,  organise*}  till  after  his  death,  but  St. 
Domink-k   was   the  chk-f  reviver  of  pers?eutiou.      His   Order  reprt/suiiU'd   the 
firineiple,  and  the  Inquisition  was,  ahnos,    as  a  matter  of  course,  plaeeu  mainly 
in  its  hands. 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF    POLITICS.  115 

lay  rulers,  and  by  a  curious  inversion  that  very  doctrine  of 
the  religious  incapacity  of  the  latter,  which,  was  afterwards 
urged  in  favour  of  tolerance,  was  at  this  time  urged  in  favour 
of  the  Inquisition.1  Xor  was  the  new  tribunal  merely  dis- 
tinct from  the  civil  government.  It  was  also  frequently  op- 
posed to  it.  Its  very  institution  was  an  encroachment  on  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  magistrate,  and  there  were  constant  differ- 
ences as  to  the  exact  limits  of  its  authority.  Wherever  it  was 
acknowledged  it  was  the  undisputed  judge  of  heresy  and  of  a 
large  section  of  ecclesiastical  offences;  and  one  of  these  latter 
— the  employment  by  priests  of  the  confessional  for  the  pur- 
pose of  seducing  the  penitents — occupied  a  very  prominent 
place  in  the  writings  it  produced.2  Witchcraft,  too,  was  usually, 
though  by  no  means  always,  regarded  as  within  its  province, 
but  the  magistrates  sometimes  refused  to  execute  its  sentences. 
Usury  was  said  by  the  ecclesiastics  to  be  an  ecclesiastical  of- 
fence, but  the  legislators  refused  to  allow  the  Inquisition  to 
try  it.  Perjury,  bigamy,  and  several  other  crimes  gave  rise 
to  similar  conflicts. 

While  the  province  of  persecution  was  thus  in  some  de- 
gree separated  from  the  civil  government,  the  extreme  vio- 
lence of  the  tribunal  to  which  it  had  fallen  aroused  a  very 
general  popular  indignation.  Spain,  it  is  true,  \vas  in  this 

1  The  following  passage  from  Sarpi  is  very  instructive: — 'Altre  volte  li 
santi  Vescovi  u'uina  cosa  piu  predicavauo  c  raccoramandavano  a  preueipi  die 
la  cura  della  religione.  Di  niuna  cosa  piu  li  ammonivano  e  raodestamcnte 
reprendevano  chc  del  trascurarla:  ed  adesso  niuna  cosa  piu  se  predica  e  per- 
suade al  preneipe,  se  non  eh'  a  lui  non  s'  aspetta  la  eura  delle  cose  divine,  con 
tutta  die  del  contrario  la  scrittura  sacra  sia  piciia  di  luoghi  dove  la  reliuione  e 
raccommandata  alia  protczionc  del  preneipe  della  Mae.-ta  Divina.'  (Pp.  81'.  '.'0. ,' 

*  See,  for  example,  the  full  discussion  of  the  matter  in  (.'arena,  Dt  0>'irl>i 
8.  Inquisitionis  (Lugduni,  10-19),  pp.  135-101.  Three  popes — Paul  IV.,  Pius 
IV.,  and  Gregory  XV. — found  it  necessary  to  issue  bulls  on  the  sul'j<rt,  a  fact 
which  will  surprise  no  one  who  has  ulanced  over  the  pages  of  Sanchez  or  I'ciis. 


136  RATIONALISM    LNT    EUROPE. 

respect  an  exception.  In  that  country  the  Inquisition  was 
always  cherished  as  the  special  expression  of  the  national  re- 
ligion, and  the  burning  of  Jews  and  heretics  was  soon  re- 
garded in  a  double  light,  as  a  religious  ceremony  and  also 
as  a  pageant  or  public  amusement  that  was  eminently  con- 
genial to  the  national  taste.1  In  other  countries,  however, 
but  especially  in  Italy,  it  excited  intense  hostility.  When 
the  Spaniards  tried  to  force  it  upon  the  Neapolitans,  so  gen- 
eral an  insurrection  ensued  that  even  Spanish  zeal  recoiled 
from  the  undertaking.  The  north  and  centre  of  Italy  writhed 
fiercely  under  the  yoke.  Terrific  riots  arising  from  this  cause 
almost  threatened  the  destruction  of  Milan  in  1242,  and  of 
Parma  in  1279,  and  minor  disturbances  took  place  in  many 


1  This  appears  sufficiently  from  the  seasons  in  which  executions  took  place, 
and  from  all  the  descriptions  of  them.  I  may  notice,  however,  that  there  is  in 
existence  one  very  remarkable  contemporary  painting  of  the  scene.  It  repre- 
sents the  execution,  or  rather  the  procession  to  the  stake,  of  a  number  of  Jews 
and  Jewesses  who  were  burnt  in  1680  at  Madrid,  during  the  fetes  that  followed 
the  marriage  of  Charles  II.,  and  before  the  king,  his  bride,  the  court,  ami 
clergy  of  .Madrid.  The  great  square  was  arranged  like  a  theatre,  and  thronged 
with  ladies  in  court  dress  ;  the  king  sat  on  an  elevated  platform  surrounded  by 
the  chief  members  of  the  aristocracy,  and  Bishop  Yaldares,  the  Inquisitor- 
General,  presided  over  the  scene.  The  painter  of  this  very  remarkable  picture 
(which  is  in  the  gallery  of  Madrid)  was  I'nmcesco  Kiz/.i,  who  died  in  1C85. 
He  has  directed  the  sympathies  of  the  spectator  against  the  Jews  by  the  usual 
plan  of  exaggerating  the  Jewish  nose — a  device  which  is  common  to  all  early 
painters  except  Jiianes,  who,  in  his  pictures  of  New  Testament  scenes,  hon- 
estly gives  this  peculiarity  of  feature  1o  the  good  as  well  as  the  bad  characters, 
and  who,  as  an  impartial  distributor  of  noses,  is  deserving  of  the  very  highest 
n-spccr.  Llorente  has  noticed  this  au(o  <laj"-,  but  not.  the  picture.  (Hist,  de 
V Inquisition,  torn.  Hi.  pp.  3,  4.) 

Among  the  victims  in  10SU  was  a  Jewish  girl,  not  17,  who<e  wondrous 
beauty  struck  all  who  saw  her  \\ith  admiration.  As  she  passed  to  the  stake, 
she  cried  to  the  queen,  'Great  queen,  is  not  your  presence  able  to  bring  me 
some  comfort  under  my  misery  ?  Consider  my  youth,  and  that  I  am  con- 
ilcmned  fur  a  ivliiMou  which  1  have  sucked  in  with  my  mother's  milk.'  Th* 
queen  turned  away  her  eyes.  (Lim'oorch,  ///.•>•'.  In^uls.  cap.  xl  j 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POL/TICS.  117 

other  towns.1  Although  the  Popes  had  done  every  thing  in 
their  power  to  invest  the  office  with  a  religious  attraction — 
although  they  had  granted  the  same  indulgences  to  its  offi- 
cers as  had  formerly  been  granted  to  the  Crusaders,  and  an 
indulgence  of  three  years  to  all  who,  not  being  Inquisitors, 
assisted  in  bringing  a  heretic  to  condemnation — although, 
too,  the  sentence  of  excommunication  was  launched  against 

'  O 

all  who  impeded  the  Inquisitors  in  the  discharge  of  their 
office — the  opposition  of  the  Italians  was  for  centuries  unex- 
tinguished.  Thus  we  find  in  1518  the  district  of  Brescia  in 
so  wild  a  ferment  of  excitement  on  account  of  the  condemna- 
tion of  numerous  persons  on  the  charge  of  incantation,  that 
the  government  could  with  difficulty  pacify  it  by  annulling 
the  sentences.  A  similar  outburst  took  place  in  Mantua  in 
1568,  and  even  in  Rome  at  the  death  of  Paul  IV.  the  prisons 
of  the  Inquisition  were  burst  open,  and  their  records  burnt 
by  an  infuriated  crowd.2 

All  these  things  have  their  place  in  the  history  of  the 
secularisation  of  politics,  for  they  all  contributed  to  Avcaken 
the  spirit  of  persecution,  and  to  separate  it  from  the  civil 
government.  As  long,  however,  as  dogmatic  interests  were 

1  Sarpi,  p.  60.     Gregory  IX.   made  the  admission  of   the  Inquisition  an 
indispensable  condition  of  his  alliances  with  the  free  towns.     A  monk  called 
Friar  John,  of  Yicenza,  seems  to  have  been  the  most  successful  in  promoting 
the  institution  in  Italy.     Ife  pronounced  himself  the  apostle  not  of  persecu- 
tion,  but  of  peace,   reconciled  many  enemies,  and   burnt   sixty   Cathun   on  a 
r-inu'lc  occasion  in  the  icreat  square  of  Verona.     (Sismondi,  Hint,  dc  l>i  I.itu  /•/'/, 
torn.  i.  pp.  10S,  li)9.) 

2  Sar;>i,   p.   SO.       I.lorente,   I  list,   i/c   la    Inquisilinn,  torn.   li.  p.   ilT'J.     Inn 
tendency  of  the  It.ilian  mind  accounts  tor  the  small  amount  of  Wood  shed  at 
Home  by  the  Inquisition.     I  cannot,  indi  ed,  ivmember  more  than  four  in^Uiiuvs 
of  men  having  been  burnt   alive  there — the   pantheistic  philosopher  Bruno  ;   a 
brother  of  I)u  Chesne,  the  historian  of  the  persecutions  in  the  Netherlands  ;   A 
heretic  who  is  spoken  of  by  Scaliucr  ;  and   ihe  famous  Arnold  of  l'>ie-r'a,  who 
*as  burnt  on  the  pretext  of  'political  hetv-ies.' 


118  RATIONALISM    ES~   EUEOPE. 

supreme,  persecution  in  some  form  or  other  must  have  con« 
tinued.  How  that  supremacy  was  weakened,  and  how,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  decline,  men  ceased  to  burn  or  imprison  those 
who  differed  from  their  opinions,  the  last  chapter  will  have 
shown. 

But,  important  as  was  this  stage  of  the  secularisation  of 
politics,  a  literary  censorship  was  still  directed  against  heret- 
ical writings,  and  the  system  of  religious  disqualifications 
still  continued.  The  first  of  these  had  been  a  very  ancient 
practice  in  religious  controversy.  Among  the  pagans  we 
find  Diocletian  making  it  one  of  his  special  objects  to  burn 
the  Christian  writings,  and  Julian,  without  taking  precisely 
the  same  step,  endeavouring  to  attain  the  same  end  by  with- 
holding from  the  Christians  the  means  of  instruction  that 
could  enable  them  to  propagate  their  opinions.1  In  the  same 
way  the  early  councils  continually  condemned  heretical 
books,  and  the  civil  power,  acting  upon  their  sentence,  de- 
stroyed them.  Tims  Constantino  ordered  the  destruction  of 
the  writings  of  the  Arians  when  the  Council  of  Xice  had  con- 
demned them.  Arcadius,  following  the  decision  of  the 
Council  of  Constantinople,  suppressed  those  of  Eunomius. 
Theodosius,  after  the  Council  of  Ephcsus,  prohibited  the 
works  of  Xestorius,  and  after  the  Council  of  Chalccdon  those 
of  Eutychos.2  At  first,  though  the  condemnation  belonged 
to  the  Church,  the  execution  of  the  sentence  wa^  regarded  as 
the  prerogative  of  the  civil  ruler  ;  but  as  early  as  443  we  find 
Pope  St.  Leo  burning  books  of  the  Maniclueans  on  his  own 

;  Julian  did  not,  as  is  sometimes  said,  forbid  the  Christians  studying  the 
il.<~ic  writing,  but  lie  prohibited  them  from  teaching  them  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  absurd  Ibr  tho-e  who  despi.-ed  and  repudiated  the  ancient  gods  to  ex- 
pound the  records  of  their  acts.  See  his  Epistle  to  Jnml>li<:hus. 

'*  Sarpi,  pp.  rjn,  IW.  Milton  gives  a  slight  sketch  of  the  history  of  cen- 
sorships in  his  Arf'iijin^'ti'-fi. 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  119 

authority.1  All  through  the  middle  ages,  the  practice  was 
of  course  continued,  and  the  Inquisition  succeeded  in  destroy- 
ing almost  the  entire  heretical  literature  before  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  but  at  the  time  of  the  revival  of  learning,  these  meas- 
ures excited  some  opposition.  Thus,  when  in  1510  the  theo- 
logians of  Cologne,  represented  especially  by  an  Inquisitor 
named  Hoestrat,  and  supported  by  the  mendicant  orders 
and  after  some  hesitation  by  the  University  of  Paris,  desired 
to  destroy  the  whole  literature  of  the  Jews  with  the  exception 
of  the  Old  Testament,  Reuchlin,  who  was  one  of  the  chief 
Hebrew  scholars  of  his  age,  protested  against  the  measure  ; 
and  having  been  on  this  account  denounced  in  violent 
language  by  a  converted  Jew  named  Phefercorne,  who  had 
originally  counselled  the  destruction,  he  rejoined  in  a  work 
strongly  asserting  the  philosophical  and  historical  value  of 
the  Jewish  literature,  and  urging  the  importance  of  its  pres- 
ervation. Nearly  all  the  ablest  pens  of  Germany  were  soon 
engaged  on  the  same  side ;  and  the  civil  authority  as  well  as 
many  distinguished  ecclesiastics  having  taken  part  in  the 
controversy,  it  became  for  a  time  the  most  prominent  in 
Europe,  and  resulted  in  the  suspension  of  the  intended 
measure.2  The  rise  of  the  Reformation  served,  however,  to 
increase  the  severity  of  the  censorship.  The  system  of 
licenses  followed  almost  immediately  upon  the  invention  of 
printing,  and  in  1559  Paul  IV.  originated  the  Index  Expur- 
gatorius.  In  England,  Convocation  was  accustomed  to  cen- 
sure,  and  the  Star  Chamber  to  suppress,  heretical  works.  In 
Holland  a  love  of  free  discussion  was  early  generated  by  the 
fact  that,  during  the  antagonism  between  France  and  Spain, 
it  suited  the  interests  of  the  latter  country  to  injike  thu 
Netherlands  the  asylum  of  the  French  refugees,  who  were 


120  RATIONALISM   IS   EUEOPE. 

accustomed  to  publish  there  innumerable  seditious  writings 
which  were  directed  against  the  French  Government,  but 
whicli  had  a  very  strong  and  favourable  influence  upon  the 
country  in  which  they  appeared.  When  the  Spanish  yoke 
was  broken,  Holland  became  equally  famous  for  the  freedom 
v.i  its  religious  press.  With  the  exception  of  this  country  and 
oi  some  of  the  cities  of  Italy,  there  were  scarcely  any  in- 
stances of  perfect  liberty  of  religious  publications,  till  the 
Revolutions,  first  of  all,  of  England,  and  afterwards  of  France, 
established  that  great  principle  which  is  rapidly  becoming 
universal,  that  the  judgment  of  theological  works  is  alto- 
gether external  to  the  province  of  legislators. 

Among  the  earliest  advocates  of  toleration  most  accepted 
as  a  truism  the  doctrine,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  nation 
in  its  national  capacity  to  adopt  some  one  form  of  religious 
belief,  and  to  act  upon  its  precepts  with  the  consistency  that 
is  expected  from  an  individual.  This  Church  and  State 
theory,  which  forms  the  last  vestige  of  the  old  theocratic 
spirit  that  marks  the  earlier  stages  of  civilisation,  is  still 
supreme  in  many  countries;  but  in  our  own  day  it  has  been 
assailed  or  destroyed  in  all  those  nations  that  have  yielded  to 
the  political  tendencies  of  the  age.  Stating  the  theory  in  its 
most  definite  form,  the  upholders  of  this  system  of  policy  de- 
manded that  every  nation  should  support  and  endow  one 
form  of  religion  and  only  one,  that  every  other  should  be  re- 
garded a<  altogether  outside  the  cognisance  of  the  State,  and 
that  the  rulers  and  representatives  should  belong  exclusively 
to  the  established  faith.  This  theory  lias  sometimes  been 
curtailed  and  modified  in  modern  times  after  successive  de- 
feats, but  any  one  who  will  trace  it  back  to  the  days  when  it 
was  triumphant,  and  follow  the  train  of  argument  that  has 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  121 

been  pursued  by  the  Tory  party  for  more  than  a  century,  can 
satisfy  himself  that  I  have  not  exaggerated  its  purport. 

The  two  European  nations  which  represent  most  fully  in 
their  policy  the  intellectual  tendencies  of  the  age  are  unques- 
tionably France  and  England,  and  it  is  precisely  in  these 
nations  that  the  theory  has  been  successfully  assailed.  After 
several  slight  oscillations,  the  French  people  in  1830  finally 
proclaimed,  as  a  basis  of  their  constitution,  the  principle,  that 
no  state  religion  is  recognised  by  France ;  and  as  a  comment 
upon  this  decision,  we  have  seen  a  Protestant  holding  the 
reins  of  power  under  Louis  Philippe,  and  a  Jew  sitting  in  the 
Provisional  Government  of  1848.  A  more  complete  abnega- 
tion of  the  old  doctrine  it  would  be  impossible  to  conceive, 
and  it  places  France,  in  at  least  this  respect,  at  the  head  of 
modern  liberalism.1 

The  progress  of  the  movement  in  England  has  been  much 
more  gradual,  and  it  represents  the  steady  grxnvth  of  ration- 
alistic principles  among  statesmen.  The  first  great  step  was 
taken  during  the  depression  of  the  clergy  that  followed  the 
Revolution.  The  establishment  of  the  Scotch  Kirk,  whether 
we  consider  the  principle  it  involved  or  the  vast  amount  of 
persecution  it  terminated,  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most 
signal  defeats  the  English  Church  has  ever  undergone.  For 
a  considerable  time,  however,  the  clergy  succeeded  in  arrest- 
ing the  movement,  which  at  last  received  a  fresh  propulsion 
by  the  Irish  Parliament,  and  attained  its  full  triumph  under 
!he  exigencies  of  Irish  policy. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  purity  of  the  Irish  Par- 
liament  during  the  brief  period  iu  which  it  exercised  an  iude- 

1  For  a  clear  view  of  the  successive  stages  of  the  secularising  movement  in 
Trance,  sec  the  memorial  on  the  subject  drawn  up  by  the  Abbe  Lacordaire, 
and  reproduced  by  7-iamcnuais.  (Affaires  tie  Rome,  pp.  37-89.) 

23  " 


122  RATIONALISM   EST   EUEOPE. 

pendent  authority,  there  are  certainly  few  things  more  absurd 
than  the  charges  of  bigotry  that  are  frequently  directed 
against  it.  If  we  measure  it  by  the  standard  of  the  present 
day,  it  will  of  course  appear  very  defective ;  but  if  we  com- 
pare it  with  contemporary  legislatures,  and  above  all  if  we 
estimate  the  peculiar  temptations  to  which  it  was  exposed, 
our  verdict  would  be  very  different.  It  would  be  scarcely 
possible  to  conceive  a  legislature  with  greater  inducement  to 
adopt  a  sectarian  policy.  Before  1793  it  was  elected  exclu- 
sively by  Protestants.  The  government  had  created,  and 
most  sedulously  maintained,  that  close-borough  system  which 
has  always  a  tendency  to  make  private  interest  the  guiding 
motive  of  policy ;  and  the  extraordinary  monopoly  the  Prot- 
estants possessed  of  almost  all  positions  of  wealth  and  dignity, 
rendered  the  strictest  toryism  their  obvious  interest.  There 
was  scarcely  any  public  opinion  existing  in  Ireland,  and  the 
Catholics  were  so  torpid  through  continued  oppression,  that 
they  could  exercise  scarcely  any  influence  upon  legislation. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  Irish  Parliament,  having  ad- 
mitted them  to  the  magistracy,  to  the  jury  box,  and  to  sev- 
eral minor  privileges,  at  last  accorded  them  the  elective 
franchise,  which,  in  a  country  where  they  formed  an  immense 
majority  of  the  nation,  and  where  every  reform  of  Parliament 
and  every  extension  of  education  must  have  strengthened 
their  interest,  necessarily  implied  a  complete  emancipation. 
It  is  worthy,  too,  of  notice  that  the  liberalism  of  the  Iri-1 
Parliament  wns  always  in  direct  proportion  to  its  political  iir 
dependence.  It  was  when  the  events  of  the  American  war 
bad  infused  into  it  that  strong  national  feeling  which  pro- 
duced the  declaration  of  independence  in  1  7S2,  lhat  the  ten- 
dency towards  toleration  became  manifest.  Almost  all  tho-e 
great  orators  who  cast  a  halo  of  such  immortal  eloquence 


THE   SECULARISATION    OF   POLITICS.  123 

around  its  closing  period,  were  the  advocates  of  emancipation. 
Almost  all  who  were  the  enemies  of  its  legislative  indepen- 
dence, were  the  enemies  of  toleration. 

The  Irish  Parliament  was,  in  truth,  a  body  governed  very 
constantly  by  corrupt  motives,  though  probably  not  more  so 
than  the  English  Parliament  in  the  time  of  Walpole.  It  was; 
also  distinguished  by  a  recklessness  of  tone  and  policy  that 
was  all  the  more  remarkable  on  account  of  the  unusually  large 
measure  of  genius  it  produced;  but  it  was  during  the  period 
of  its  independence  probably  more  free  from  religious  bigotry 
than  any  other  representative  body  that  had  ever  sat  in  the 
United  Kingdom.  That  it  would  have  completed  the  meas- 
ure of  1793  by  the  admission  of  Catholics  to  Parliament,  if 
the  Government  had  supported  or  had  even  refrained  from 
opposing  that  measure,  is  almost  absolutely  certain.  The 
opposition  of  the  ministers  threw  out  the  bill,  and  the  recall 
of  Lord  Fitzwilliam  damped  the  hopes  of  the  Catholics,  and 
was  one  of  the  chief  proximate  causes  of  the  Rebellion  of 
1798.  But  although  emancipation  Avas  not  then  conceded, 
the  Irish  Parliament  directed  a  deadly  blow  against  the  Tory 
theory,  by  endowing  the  College  of  Maynooth,  a  distinctive- 
ly Catholic  institution  designed  for  the  education  of  the 
Catholic  priesthood.1 

1  1  may  here  notice  that  an  Irishman  and  an  ecclesiastic — Bishop  Berkeley 
— was,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  first  Protestant  who  suggested  the  admission  of 
Catholics  into  a  Protestant  university.  He  proposed  that  they  should  be  ad- 
mitted into  that  of  Dublin  without  being  compelled  to  attend  chapel  or  am 
uirmity  lectures ;  and  he  observed  that  the  Jesuits,  in  their  colleges  in  Paris, 
had  acted  in  this  manner  towards  Protestants.  (Querist,  Xo.  291,  published 
Ji  1735.)  As  early  as  1725  a  considerable  amount  of  controversy  took  place 
on  the  subject  of  toleration  in  Ireland,  occasioned  by  a  sermon  preached  before 
the  Irish  Parliament  by  a  clergyman  named  Syncre,  in  which  he  advocated  as  a 
Christian  duty  A.he  most  complete  toleration  of  the  Catholics,  and  enuneiotLi] 
the  principles  of  religious  liberty  with  the  strongest  emphasis.  The  Parlia- 


124:  RATIONALISM    IN   EUEOPE. 

The  Union  was,  on  the  wLole,  very  unfavourable  to  the 
movement.  To  exclude  the  Catholics  from  the  Parliament 
of  an  empire  in  whi^h  they  were  a  small  minority,  did  not 
appear  such  a  glaring  anomaly  as  to  exclude  them  from  the 
Parliament  of  a  nation  of  which  they  formed  the  great  ma- 
jority. The  national  feeling  that  made  the  Irish  Protestants 
wish  to  emancipate  their  fellow-countrymen  could  not  act 
with  the  same  force  on  an  English  Parliament ;  and  the  evan- 
gelical movement  which  had  originated  witli  Wesley,  and 
which  was  in  general  strongly  adverse  to  the  Catholic  claims, 
had  in  a  great  measure  pervaded  English  society,  when  it 
had  scarcely  penetrated  to  Ireland.  Besides  this,  a  profound 
change  had  passed  over  public  opinion  in  Ireland.  The 
purely  national  and  secular  spirit  the  Irish  Parliament  had 
fostered  perished  with  its  organ.  Patriotism  was  replaced 
by  sectarianism,  and  the  evil  continued  till  it  made  Ireland 
one  of  the  most  priest-ridden  nations  in  Europe.  These 
causes  account  sufficiently  for  the  delay  of  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  in  according  the  boon  which  in  1T96  appear- 
ed almost  attained.1  On  the  other  hand,  the  Whig  parly, 
which  had  constituted  itself  the  representative  of  the  secular 
movement,  and  which  contained  an  unusually  large  propor- 
tion of  religious  latitudinarians,*  steadily  advanced,  and  its 

ment  ordered  the  sermon  to  be  published.  It  was  answered  by  a  writer  named 
Radeliffe,  and  defended  by  a  writer  named  Weaver.  Syngc  himself  rejoined. 
This  whole  controversy,  which  is  utterly  forgotten — buried  in  the  great  chaos 
of  Irish  pamphlets,  and  perhaps  read  of  late  years  by  no  human  being  except 
;hc  present  writer — is  well  worthy  of  the  attention  of  those  who  study  the 
.•nurse  of  public  opinion  in  Ireland.  Perhaps  the  most  eloquent  defence  of 
toleration  written  in  English  during  the  last  century,  was  the  answer  of  the 
Irish  priest  O'Leary  to  Wc.-ley's  Defence  of  the  Penal  Laws  ;  but  then  O'Leary 
was  defending  his  own  cause. 

1  I  have  examim-d  nil  this  more  fully  in  77t«  Leaders  of  Public  Opinion  i* 
Ireland. 

2  See,  on  this  subject,  a  striking  letter  by  Southey,  in  Blanco  White's  Life.. 
vol.  i.  p.  310. 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  125 

organ,  the  Edinburgh  Review,  was  for  some  years  one  of  the 
most  powerful  intellectual  influences  in  England.  At  the 
same  time  the  agitation  of  O'Connell  gave  a  new  and  impera- 
tive tone  to  the  demands  of  the  Catholics,  and  O'Connell 
very  judiciously  maintained  the  claims  of  the  dissenters  as 
strongly  as  those  of  his  coreligionists.  At  last  the  victory 
was  achieved.  The  dissenters  were  admitted  to  Parliament, 
and  the  theological  unity  that  had  so  long  been  maintained 
was  broken.  Still  stage  after  stage  of  the  emancipation  was 
fiercely  contested.  The  Catholics  were  avowedly  admitted 
through  fear  of  a  revolution,  and  the  act  was  performed  in 
such  a  grudging  and  ungracious  manner  as  to  destroy  all  the 
gratitude,  and  many  of  the  benefits,  it  would  otherwise  have 
conferred.  Even  then  many  years  elapsed  before  the  Jews 
were  emancipated.  The  invasion  and  partial  destruction  of 
the  sectarian  character  of  the  universities  represents  the  last 
stage  of  the  movement  which  the  earliest  advocates  of  toler- 
ation had  begun. 

A  necessary  consequence  of  this  movement  was  that  the 
clergy  were,  as  a  body,  identified  either  with  retrogression 
or  with  immobility  in  politics.  During  the  middle  ages  they 
had  been  the  initiators  of  almost  every  progressive  move- 
ment;  but  in  modern  times,  the  current  being  directly  op- 
posed to  their  interests,  they  have  naturally  become  the 
champions  of  the  past.  At  the  same  time,  and  as  a  result  of 
the  same  causes,  their  political  influence  has  been  steadily  de- 
clining, lu  England  the  first  great  blow  to  their  power  was 
the  destruction  of  the  monasteries.  Fuller  has  reckoned  at 
twenty-seven,  Lord  Herbert  at  twenty-eight,  and  Sir  Edward 
Coke  at  twenty-nine,  the  number  of  mitred  abbots  and  priors 
who  by  this  measure  lost  their  seats  in  the  House  of  Lords,' 

Joyce.  Hist,  of  EnriHxh  Convocations,  p.  449. 


126  RATIONALISM   UN    EUROPE. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  III.,  the  spiritual  peers  had  formed 
one-half  of  the  upper  house ;  in  the  beginning  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  they  formed  only  one-eighth,  and  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  nineteenth  century  only  one-fourteenth.1  Since 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  no  clergyman  has 
occupied  any  important  office  in  the  State,*  and  the  same 
change  has  passed  over  almost  every  other  nation  in  Europe, 
To  those  who  have  appreciated  the  great  truth  that  a 
radical  political  change  necessarily  implies  a  corresponding 
change  in  the  mental  habits  of  society,  the  process  which  I 
have  traced  will  furnish  a  decisive  evidence  of  the  declining 
influence  of  dogmatic  theology.  That  vast  department  of 
thought  and  action  which  is  comprised  under  the  name  of 
politics  was  once  altogether  guided  by  its  power.  It  is  now 
passing  from  its  influence  rapidly,  universally,  and  complete- 
ly. The  classes  that  are  most  penetrated  with  the  spirit  of 
ppecial  dogmas  were  once  the  chief  directors  of  the  policy  of 
Europe.  They  now  form  a  baffled  and  desponding  minority, 
whose  most  cherished  political  principles  have  been  almost 
universally  abandoned,  who  are  struggling  faintly  and  inef- 
fectually against  the  ever-increasing  spirit  of  the  age,  a7id 
whose  ideal  is  not  in  the  future  but  in  the  past.  It  is  evident 
that  a  government  never  can  be  really  like  a  railway  com- 
pany, or  a  literary  society,  which  only  exercises  an  influence 
over  secular  affairs.  As  long  as  it  determines  the  system  of 
education  that  exists  among  its  subjects,  as  long  as  it  can 
encourage  or  repress  the  teaching  of  particular  doctrines,  as 
Jong  as  its  foreign  policy  brings  it  into  collision  with  govern- 
ments which  still  make  the  maintenance  of  certain  religious 
systems  a  main  object  of  their  policy,  it  will  necessarily  ex- 
ercise a  gigantic  influence  upon  belief.  It  cannot  possibly 

1  Buckle.  J':sl  of  Cii..  vol.  i.  pp.  380.  ?,S1.  '  Ibid. 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  127 

be  uninfluential,  and  it  is  difficult  to  assign  limits  to  the  in- 
fluence that  it  may  exercise.  If  the  men  who  compose  it  (or 
the  public  opinion  that  governs  them)  be  pervaded  by  an  in- 
tensely-realised conviction  that  the  promulgation  of  a  certain 
system  of  doctrine  is  incomparably  the  highest  of  human 
interests,  that  to  assist  that  promulgation  is  the  main  ob- 
ject for  which  they  were  placed  in  the  world,  and  should  be 
the  dominant  motive  of  their  lives,  it  will  be  quite  impos- 
sible for  these  men,  as  politicians,  to  avoid  interfering  with 
theology.  Men  who  are  inspired  by  an  absorbing  passion 
will  inevitably  gratify  it  if  they  have  the  power.  Men  who 
sincerely  desire  the  happiness  of  mankind  will  certainly  use 
to  the  uttermost  the  means  they  possess  of  promoting  what 
they  feel  to  be  beyond  all  comparison  the  greatest  of  human 
interests.  If  by  giving  a  certain  direction  to  education  thev 

•/      O  O  *> 

could  avert  fearful  and  general  physical  suffering,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  they  Avould  avail  themselves  of  their  power. 
If  they  were  quite  certain  that  the  greatest  possible  suffer- 
ing was  the  consequence  of  deviating  from  a  particular  class 
of  opinions,  they  could  not  possibly  neglect  that  considera- 
tion in  their  la\vs.  This  is  the  conclusion  we  should  natural- 
ly draw  from  the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  and  it  is  most 
abundantly  corroborated  by  experience.1  In  order  to  ascer- 
tain the  tendencies  of  certain  opinions,  we  should  not  confiiu! 
ourselves  to  those  exceptional  intellects  who,  having  per- 
ceived the  character  of  their  age,  have  spent  their  lives  :n 

This  lias  been  V<TV  e!?.irly  noticed  in  o:ic  of  the  ablest  modern  books  iu 
J  fence  of  the  Tory  theory.  'At  the  point  where  Protestantism  beeomen 
vicious,  where  it  receives  the  first  tin.^o  of  latitudiuarianisra,  and  begins  to  joiii 
bauds  -with  infidelity  by  superseding  the  belL-f  of  an  objective  truth  in  rtlLioh, 
necessary  for  salvation;  at  th.it  very  .-pot  it  likewise  assumes  an  a-peet  of 
hostility  to  the  union  of  Church  and  State.'  ((dadstoiie,  on  Chnr<-h  u/<</  dt'.rtc, 
p.  188.) 


128  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

endeavouring  painfully  and  laboriously  to  wrest  their  opin- 
ions in  conformity  with  them.  We  should  rather  observe 
the  position  which  large  bodies  of  men,  governed  by  the 
same  principles,  but  living  under  various  circumstances  and 
in  different  ages,  naturally  and  almost  unconsciously  occupy. 
We  have  ample  means  of  judging  in  the  present  case.  "We 
see  the  general  tone  which  is  adopted  on  political  subjects  by 
the  clergy  of  the  most  various  creeds,  by  the  religious  news- 
papers, and  by  the  politicians  who  represent  that  section  of 
the  community  which  is  most  occupied  with  dogmatic  theol- 
ogy.  We  see  that  it  is  a  tendency  distinct  from  and  op- 
posed to  the  tendencies  of  the  age.  History  tells  us  that  it 
was  once  dominant  in  politics,  that  it  has  been  continuously 
and  rapidly  declining,  and  that  it  has  declined  most  rapidly 
and  most  steadily  in  those  countries  in  which  the  develop- 
ment of  intellect  has  been  most  active.  All  over  Europe  the 
priesthood  arc  now  associated  with  a  policy  of  toryism,  of 
reaction,  or  of  obstruction.  All  over  Europe  the  organs  that 
represent  dogmatic  interests  are  in  permanent  opposition  to 
the  progressive  tendencies  around  them,  and  are  rapidly 
sinking  into  contempt.  In  every  country  in  which  a  strong 
political  life  is  manifested,  the  secularisation  of  politics  is  the 
consequence.  Each  stage  of  that  movement  has  been  ini- 
tiated and  effected  by  those  who  arc  most  indifferent  to  dog- 
matic theology,  and  each  has  been  opposed  by  those  who  are 
most  occupied  with  theology.1 

1  The  evidence  of  the  secularisation  of  polities  furnished  by  the  position  ol 
wh:it  is  called  'the  religious  press,'  is  not  confined  to  Enu'land  and  France. 
The  following  very  remarkable  passage  was  written  by  a  most  competent  ob- 
server in  18")S,  when  Austria  seemed  the  centre  of  religious  despotism  :  '  Tons 
les  interets  les  plus  cheiifs  ont  des  nombreux  organes  dims  la  presse  periodique 
et  font  tons  de  bonnes  afiliires.  La  religion,  le  premier  et  le  plus  grand  de  tons 
les  interC-ts,  n'en  a  qu'un  nombre  prcsque  imperceptible  et  qui  a  bien  de  la 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  120 

And  as  I  write  these  words,  it  is  impossible  to  forget  that 
one  of  the  great  problems  on  which  the  thoughts  of  politi- 
cians are  even  now  concentrated  is  the  hopeless  decadence  of 
the  one  theocracy  of  modern  Europe,  of  the  great  type  and 
representative  of  the  alliance  of  politics  and  theology.  That 
thi  Dne  on  which  it  seemed  as  though  the  changeless  Church 
Lad  stamped  the  impress  of  her  own  perpetuity — that  throne 
which  for  so  many  centuries  of  anarchy  and  confusion  had 
been  the  Sinai  of  a  protecting  and  an  avenging  law — that 
throne  which  was  once  the  centre  and  the  archetype  of  the 
political  system  of  Europe,  the  successor  of  Imperial  Rome, 
the  inheritor  of  a  double  portion  of  her  spirit,  the  one  power 
which  seemed  removed  above  all  the  vicissitudes  of  politics, 
the  iris  above  the  cataract,  unshaken  amid  so  much  turmoil 
and  so  much  change — that  throne  has  in  our  day  sunk  into  a 
condition  of  hopeless  decrepitude,  and  has  only  prolonged  its 
existence  by  the  confession  of  its  impotence.  Supported  by 
the  bayonets  of  a  foreign  power,  and  avowedly  incapable  of 
self-existence,  it  is  no  longer  a  living  organism,  its  signifi- 
cance is  but  the  significance  of  death.  There  was  a  time 
when  the  voice  that  issued  from  the  Vatican  shook  Europe 
to  its  foundations,  and  sent  forth  the  proudest  armies  to  the 
deserts  of  Syria.  There  was  a  time  when  all  the  valour  and 
all  the  chivalry  of  Christendom  would  have  followed  the 
banner  of  the  Church  in  any  field  and  against  any  foe.  Xow 
a  few  hundred  French,  and  Belgians,  and  Irish  are  all  who 
would  respond  to  its  appeal.  It<  august  antiquity,  the  rev- 
erence that  centres  around  its  chk-f,  the  memory  of  the  un- 

pcine  i  vivre.  Puns  la  Catliolique  Autriclio  ~ur  135  jouriuuix  il  ify  a  qu'un 
Fcul  consacre  aux  intorots  du  (Jim-tumi-nit1,  ct  il  laisse  beauccnip  ;\  deMivr  .-nus 
le  rapport  de  I'orthodoxic-.  .  .  .  La  verite  e~t  quo  decidement  ropiniutj 
puMique  ainsi  que  I'interet  publique  ont  ce.-se  d'etre  Chretiens  eu  Europe.' 
(Ventura,  T*  Poui'oir  C1ir<tifn.  /V<7''y»<.  p.  100.) 


130  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

rivalled  influence  it  has  exercised,  the  genius  that  has  conse- 
crated its  past,  the  undoubted  virtues  that  have  "been  display- 
ed by  its  rulers,  were  all  unable  to  save  the  papal  govern- 
ment from  a  decadence  the  most  irretrievable  and  the  most 
hopeless.  Reforms  were  boldly  initiated,  but  they  only 
served  to  accelerate  its  ruin.  A  repressive  policy  was  at- 
tempted, but  it  could  not  arrest  the  progress  of  its  decay. 
For  nearly  a  century,  under  every  ruler  and  under  every 
system  of  policy,  it  has  been  hopelessly,  steadily,  and  rapidly 
declining.  At  last  the  influences  that  had  so  long  been  cor 
roding  it  attained  their  triumph.  It  fell  before  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  has  since  been  unable  to  exist,  except  by  the  sup- 
port of  a  foreign  army.  The  principle  of  its  vitality  has 
departed. 

Xo  human  pan  can  write  its  epitaph,  for  no  imagination 
can.  adequately  realise  its  glories.  In  the  eyes  of  those  who 
estimate  the  greatness  of  a  sovereignty,  not  by  the  extent  of 
its  territory,  or  by  the  valour  of  its  soldiers,  but  by  the  in- 
fluence which  it  has  exercised  over  mankind,  the  papal  gov- 
ernment has  had  no  rival,  and  can  have  no  successor.  But 
though  we  may  not  fully  estimate  the  majesty  of  its  past,  we 
can  at  least  trace  the  causes  of  its  decline.  It  fell  because  it 
neglected  the  great  truth  that  a  government  to  be  success- 
ful must  adapt  itself  to  the  ever-changing  mental  condition 
of  society  ;  that  a  policy  which  in  one  century  produces  the 
utmost  prosperity,  in  another  leads  only  to  ruin  and  to  disas- 
ter. It  fell  because  it  represented  the  union  of  politics  and 
theology,  and  because  the  intellect  of  Europe  has  rendered 
it  an  anachronism  by  pronouncing  their  divorce.  It  fell  be- 
cause its  constitution  was  essentially  and  radically  opposed 
to  the  spirit  of  an  age  in  which  the  secularisation  of  politics 
is  the  measure  and  the  condition  of  all  political  prosperity. 


THE   SECULAKISATIOX   OF    POLITICS.  131 

The  secularisation  of  politics  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
direct  consequence  of  the  declining  influence  of  dogmatic 
theology.  I  have  said  that  it  also  reacts  upon  and  influences  its 
cause.  The  creation  of  a  strong  and  purely  secular  political 
feeling  diffused  through  all  classes  of  society,  and  producing 
an  ardent  patriotism,  and  a  passionate  and  indomitable  lore 
of  liberty,  is  sufficient  in  many  respects  to  modify  all  the 
great  departments  of  thought,  and  to  contribute  largely  to 
the  formation  of  a  distinct  type  of  intellectual  character. 

It  is  obvious,  in  the  first  place,  that  one  important  effect 
of  a  purely  secular  political  feeling  will  be  to  weaken  the  in- 
tensity of  sectarianism.  Before  its  existence  sectarianism 
was  the  measure  by  which  all  things  and  persons  were  con- 
templated. It  exercised  an  undivided  control  over  the  minds 
and  passions  of  men,  absorbed  all  their  interests,  and  presid- 
ed over  all  their  combinations.  But  when  a  purely  political 
spirit  is  engendered,  a  new  enthusiasm  is  introduced  into  the 
mind,  which  first  divides  the  affections  and  at  last  replaces 
the  passion  that  had  formerly  been  supreme.  Two  different 
enthusiasms,  each  of  which  makes  men  regard  events  in  a 
special  point  of  view,  cannot  at  the  same  time  be  absolute. 
The  habits  of  thought  that  are  formed  by  the  one,  will  neces- 
sarily weaken  or  efface  the  habits  of  thought  that  are  formed 
by  the  other.  Men  learn  to  classify  their  fellows  by  a  new 
principle.  They  become  in  one  capacity  the  cordial  asso- 
ciates of  those  whom  in  another  capacity  they  had  lung  re- 
garded with  unmingled  dislike.  They  learn  to  repress  and 
oppose  in  one  capacity  those  whom  in  another  capacity  they 
regard  with  unbounded  reverence.  Conflicting  feelings  are 
thus  produced  which  neutralise  each  other;  and  if  one  of 
the  two  increases,  the  other  is  proportionately  diminished. 
Every  war  that  unites  for  secular  objects  nations  of  different 


132  EATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

creeds,  every  measure  that  extends  political  interests  to 
classes  that  had  formerly  been  excluded  from  their  rauge, 
has  therefore  a  tendency  to  assuage  the  virulence  of  sects. 

Another  consequence  of  the  intellectual  influence  of 
political  life  is  a  tendency  to  sacrifice  general  principles  to 
practical  results.  It  has  often  been  remarked  that  the 
English  constitution,  which  is  commonly  regarded  as  the 
most  perfect  realisation  of  political  freedom,  is  beyond  all 
others  the  most  illogical,  and  that  a'very  large  proportion  of 
those  measures  which  have  proved  most  beneficial,  have  in- 
volved the  grossest  logical  inconsistencies,  the  most  partial 
and  unequal  applications  of  some  general  principle.  The 
object  of  the  politician  is  expediency,  and  his  duty  is  to 
adapt  his  measures  to  the  often  crude,  undeveloped,  and 
vacillating  conceptions  of  the  nation.  The  object,  on  the 
other  hand,  of  the  philosopher  is  truth,  and  his  duty  is  to 
push  every  principle  which  he  believes  to  be  true  to  its  legit- 
imate consequences,  I'egardless  of  the  results  which  may 
follow.  Xothing  can  be  more  fatal  in  politics  than  a  pre- 
ponderance of  the  philosophical,  or  in  philosophy  than  a 
preponderance  of  the  political  spirit.  In  the  first  case,  the 
ruler  will  find  himself  totally  incapable  of  adapting  his 
measures  to  the  exigencies  of  exceptional  circumstances;  he 
will  become  involved  in  inextricable  difficulties  by  the  com- 
plexity of  the  phenomena  he  endeavours  to  reduce  to  order; 
and  he  will  be  in  perpetual  collision  witli  public  opinion.  In 
the  second  case,  the  thinker  will  be  continually  harassed  by 
considerations  of  expediency  which  introduce  the  bias  of  the 
will  into  what  should  be  a  purely  intellectual  process,  and 
impart  a  timidity  and  a  disingcnuousuess  to  the  whole  tone 
of  his  thoughts.  There  can,  I  think,  be  little  doubt  that  this 
utter  influence  is  at  present  acting  most  unfavourably  upoc 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF    POLITICS.  133 

speculative  opinions  in  countries  where  political  life  is  very 
powerful.  A  disinterested  love  of  truth  can  hardly  coexist 
with  a  strong  political  spirit.  In  all  countries  where  the 
habits  of  thought  have  been  mainly  formed  by  political  life, 
\ve  may  discover  a  disposition  to  make  expediency  the  test 
of  truth,  to  close  the  eyes  and  turn  away  the  mind  from  any 
arguments  that  tend  towards  a  radical  change,  and  above  all 
to  make  utilitarianism  a  kind  of  mental  perspective  accord- 
ing to  which  the  different  parts  of  belief  are  magnified  or 
diminished.  All  that  has  a  direct  influence  upon  the  well- 
being  of  society  is  brought  into  clear  relief;  all  that  has 
only  an  intellectual  importance  becomes  unrealised  and  in- 
operative. It  is  probable  that  the  capacity  for  pursuing  ab- 
stract truth  for  its  own  sake,  which  has  given  German  think- 
ers so  great  an  ascendency  in  Europe,  is  in  no  slight  degree 
to  be  attributed  to  the  political  languor  of  their  nation. 

This  predisposition  acts  in  different  ways  upon  the  pro- 
gress of  Rationalism.  It  is  hostile  to  it  on  account  of  the 
intense  conservatism  it  produce?,  and  also  on  account  of  its 
opposition  to  that  purely  philosophical  spirit  to  which  Ra- 
tionalism seeks  to  subordinate  all  departments  of  speculative 
belief.  It  is  favourable  to  it,  inasmuch  as  it  withdraws  the 
minds  of  men  from  the  doctrinal  aspect  of  their  faith  to  con- 
centrate them  upon  the  moral  aspect,  which  in  the  eyes  of 
the  politician  as  of  the  rationalist  is  infinitely  the  most  im 
portant. 

But  probably  the  most  important,  and  certainly  the  most 
beneficial,  effect  of  political  life  is  to  habituate  men  to  a  true 
method  of  enquiry.  Government  in  a  constitutional  country 
is  carried  on  by  debate,  all  the  arguments  on  both  sides  ate 
brought  forward  Avith  unrestricted  freedom,  and  every  news- 
paper reports  in  full  what  lias  been  said  against  tin-  princi 


131  RATIONALISM   IN   EUEOPE. 

pies  it  advocates  by  the  ablest  men  in  the  country,  Men 
may  study  the  debates  of  Parliament  under  the  influence  of 
a  strong  party  bias,  they  may  even  pay  more  attention  to 
the  statements  of  one  party  than  to  those  of  the  other,  but 
they  never  imagine  that  they  can  form  an  opinion  by  an  ex- 
clusive study  of  what  has  been  written  on  one  side.  The 
two  views  of  every  question  are  placed  in  juxtaposition,  and 
every  one  who  is  interested  in  the  subject  examines  both. 
When  a  charge  is  brought  against  any  politician,  men  natu- 
rally turn  to  his  reply  before  forming  an  opinion,  and  they 
feel  that  any  other  course  would  be  not  only  extremely  fool- 
ish, but  also  extremely  dishonest.  This  is  the  spirit  of  truth 
as  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  falsehood  and  imposture,  which  in 
all  ages  and  in  all  departments  of  thought  has  discouraged 
men  from  studying  opposing  systems,  lamented  the  circula- 
tion of  adverse  arguments,  and  denounced  as  criminal  those 
who  listen  to  them.  Among  the  higher  order  of  intellects, 
the  first  spirit  is  chiefly  cultivated  by  those  philosophical 
studies  which  discipline  and  strengthen  the  mind  for  re- 
search. But  what  philosophy  does  for  a  very  lew,  political 
life  does,  less  perfectly,  indeed,  but  still  in  a  great  degree,  for 
the  many.  It  diffuses  abroad  not  only  habits  of  acute  reason- 
ing, but  also,  what  is  fiir  more  important,  habits  of  impartial- 
ity and  intellectual  fairness,  which  will  at  last  be  carried 
into  all  forms  of  discussion,  and  will  destroy  every  system 
that  refuses  to  accept  them.  Year  after  year,  as  political 
life  extends,  we  find  each  new  attempt  to  stifle  the  expression 
of  opinion  received  with  an  increased  indignation,  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  people  immediately  enlisted  on  behalf  of  the 
oppressed  teacher,  and  the  work  which  is  the  object  of  con- 
demnation elevated  in  public  esteem  often  to  a  degree  that 
is  far  greater  than  it  deserves.  Year  after  vear  the  txmvic 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  135 

tion  becomes  more  general,  that  a  provisional  abnegation  of 
the  opinions  of  the  past  and  a  resolute  and  unflinching  im- 
partiality are  among  the  highest  duties  of  the  enquirer,  and 
that  he  who  shrinks  from  such  a  research  is  at  least  mor- 
ally bound  to  abstain  from  condemning  the  opinions  of  his 
neighbour. 

If  we  may  generalise  the  experience  of  modern  constitu- 
tional governments,  it  would  appear  that  this  pi'ocess  must 
pass  through  three  phases.  When  political  life  is  introduced 
into  a  nation  that  is  strongly  imbued  with  sectarianism,  this 
latter  spirit  will  at  first  dominate  over  political  interests,  and 
the  whole  scope  and  tendency  of  government  will  be  direct- 
ed by  theology.  After  a  time  the  movement  I  have  traced 
in  the  present  chapter  will  appear.  The  secular  element 
will  emerge  into  light.  It  will  at  length  obtain  an  absolute 

o  o  o 

ascendency,  and,  expelling  theology  successively  from  all  its 
political  strongholds,  will  thus  weaken  its  influence  over  the 
human  mind.  Yet  in  one  remarkable  way  the  spirit  of  sec- 
tarianism will  still  survive:  it  will  change  its  name  and  object 
transmigrate  into  political  discussion,  and  assume  the  form 
of  an  intense  party-spirit.  The  increasing  tendency,  how- 
ever,  of  political  life  seems  to  be  to  weaken  or  efface  this 
spirit,  and  in  the  more  advanced  stages  of  free  government 
it  almost  disappears.  A  judicial  spirit  is  fostered  which  leads 
men  both  in  politics  and  theology  to  eclecticism,  to  judge 
all  questions  exclusively  on  the  ground  of  their  intrinsic 
merits,  and  not  at  all  according  to  their  position  in  theologi- 
cal or  political  systems.  To  increase  the  range  and  intensity 
of  political  interests  is  to  strengthen  this  tendency;  and 
every  extension  of  the  suffrage  thus  diffuses  over  a  wider 
circle  a  habit  of  thought  that  must  eventually  modify  theo- 
logical belief.  If  the  suffrage  should  ever  be  granted  to 


136  RATIONALISM   IK   EUROPE. 

women,  it  would  probably,  after  two  or  three  generations, 
effect  a  complete  revolution  in  their  habits  of  thought,  which 
by  acting  upon  the  first  period  of  education  would  influence 
the  whole  course  of  opinion. 

Such  then  have  been  some  of  the  leading  tendencies  pro- 
duced by  that  purely  secular  political  spirit  which  is  itself  a 
result  of  the  declining  influence  of  theology.  It  now  remains 
for  us  to  examine  the  second  branch  of  our  subject — the  sec- 
ularisation of  the  basis  or  principle  of  authority  upon  which 
all  political  structures  rest. 

In  the  course  of  the  last  few  years  a  great  many  insurrec- 
tions of  nations  against  their  sovereigns  have  taken  place, 
which  have  been  regarded  with  warm  approval  by  the  pub- 
lic opinion  of  the  most  advanced  nations  in  Europe.  Some 
countries  have  cast  off  their  rulers  in  order  by  coalescing  to 
form  one  powerful  State,  others  because  those  rulers  were 
tyrannical  or  incapable,  others  because  the  system  of  their 
government  had  grown  antiquated,  arid  others  in  order  to 
realise  some  historical  nationality.  In  many  cases  the  de- 
posed rulers  had  been  bound  to  their  people  by  no  distinct 
stipulations,  had  violated  no  LIAV,  and  had  been  guilty  of  110 
extraordinary  harshness.  The  simple  ground  upon  which 
these  changes  were  justified  was  that  the  great  majority  of 
the  nation  desired  them,  and  that  ground  has  generally  been 
acquiesced  in  as  sufficient.  To  exhibit  in  the  plainest  form 
the  change  that  has  come  over  public  opinion,  it  may  be  suf- 
ficient to  say  that  for  many  centuries  all  such  insurrections 
would  have  been  regarded  by  theologians  as  mortal  sins,  and 
all  who  participated  in  them  as  in  danger  of  perdition. 

The  teaching  of  the  early  Fathers  on  the  subject  is  per- 
fectly unanirrous  and  unequivocal.  Without  a  single  excep- 
tion, all  who  touched  upon  the  subject  pronounced  active  re- 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  137 

eistance  to  the  established  authorities  to  be  under  all  circum- 
stances sinful.  If  the  law  enjoined  what  was  wrong,  it 
should  be  disobeyed,  but  no  vice  and  no  tyranny  could  justi- 
fy revolt.1  This  doctrine  was  taught  in  the  most  emphatic 
terms,  not  as  a  counsel  of  expediency  applicable  to  special 
circumstances,  but  as  a  moral  principle  universally  binding 
upon  the  conscience.  It  was  taught  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
horrible  persecutions.  It  was  taught  when  the  Christians 
were  already  extremely  numerous,  and  their  forbearance, 
notwithstanding  their  numbers,  was  constantly  claimed  as  a 
merit.*  So  harmonious  and  so  emphatic  are  the  Patristic 
testimonies  upon  the  subject,  thnt  the  later  theologians  who 
adopted  other  views  have  been  utterly  unable  to  adduce  any 
passages  in  their  support,  and  have  been  reduced  to  the  mel- 
ancholy expedient  of  virtually  accusing  the  early  Christians 
of  hypocrisy,  by  maintaining  that,  notwithstanding  the  high 
moral  tone  they  assumed  on  the  subject,  the  real  cause  of 
their  submission  was  their  impotence,3  or  to  the  ludicrous 
expedient  of  basing  a  system  of  liberal  politics  OH  the  in- 
vectives of  Cyril  and  Gregory  Xazianzen  against  the  memory 
of  Julian.4 

1  See  Grotius,  De  Jure  Bdli  et  Pacis,  lib.  i.  cap.  4  ;  Taylor,  Ductor  Dulii 
tantium,  lib.  iii.  cap.  3,  and  also  the  list  of  authorities  cited  by  Gregory  XVI. 
in  his  bull  to  the  Bishops  of  Poland,  'concerning  the  maxims  of  the  Catholic 
Church  on  submission  to  the  civil  power  ' ;  Lamennais,  Affaires  dc  Rome,  pp. 
308-317.  But  perhaps  the  fullest  exposition  of  the  Patristic  sentiments  on 
the  subject  is  in  a  very  able  book  called  Sacro-Sancta  Region  Jfajesha,  pub- 
luhed  at  Oxford  at  the  beginning  of  the  Great  Rebellion. 

*  Striking  instances  of  this  are  given  by  Grotius,  De  Jure,  lib.  i.  c.  iv.  g  7. 

'  This  has  been  maintained  among  others  by  Milton  and  Gronovius  among 
the  Protestants,  and  by  Bellanninc  and  (in  more  modern  times)  by  Bianchi 
nioong  the  Catholics.  See  Bianchi,  Ti-iiiti:  tie  la  Puissance  EcvUsiastiqi't 
(trad.  Peltier,  Paris,  1857),  torn.  i.  pp.  G39-G42. 

4  This  appears  to  have  been  a  favourite  argument  of  the  French  Prot- 
estants: Avis  ai.ix  Iiffu<jitz  sur  '<-<ir  prochain  Re/our  e/i  France,  p.  43.  To 


138  RATIONALISM   EST    EUROPE. 

It  is  manifest  that  such  a  doctrine  is  absolutely  incorapat-1 
ible  with  political  liberty.  'A  limited  monarch,'  as  even 
the  Tory  Hume  admitted,  '  who  is  not  to  be  resisted  when  he 
exceeds  his  limitations,  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.'  Besides, 
in  almost  every  case,  the  transition  from  an  absolute  to  a 
limited  monarchy  has  been  the  result  of  the  resistance  of  the 
people ;  and  the  whole  course  of  history  abundantly  proven 
that  power,  when  once  enjoyed,  is  scarcely  ever  voluntarily 
relinquished.  From  these  considerations  Grotius  and  many 
other  writers  have  concluded  that  a  Christian  people,  when 
oppressed  by  tyrants,  is  bound  to  sacrifice  its  hopes  of  liber- 
ty to  its  faith,  while  Shaftesbury  and  his  followers  have  de- 
nounced Christianity  as  incompatible  with  freedom.  But  to 
those  who  regard  the  history  of  the  Church  not  as  one  homo- 
geneous whole,  but  as  a  series  of  distinct  phases,  the  attitude 
of  its  early  leaders  will  appear  very  different.  For  the  first 
condition  of  liberty  is  the  establishment  of  some  higher 
principle  of  action  than  fear.  A  government  that  rests  on 
material  force  alone  must  always  be  a  tyranny,  whatever 
may  be  the  form  it  assumes  ;  and  at  the  time  Christianity  be- 
came supreme  the  Roman  Empire  was  rapidly  degenerating 
into  that  frightful  condition.  Increasing  corruption  had  de- 
stroyed both  the  tie  of  religion  and  the  tie  of  patriotism,  and 
the  army  AVUS  the  sole  arbiter  of  the  destinies  of  the  State. 
After  a  time  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians  still  further  ag- 

those  the  fiallican  Catholics  replied  that  Julian  was  dead  when  the  invective? 
were  delivered.  Hilary,  however,  inveighed  vehemently  against  the  A  ma 
Emperor  Con-tantius,  in  the  lifetime  of  the  latter;  and  Bianehi,  in  a  very  in- 
geii'ov.e  fashion,  argues  from  this  that  Const, nitins  must  have  been  virtually 
deposed  on  account  of  his  heresy,  for  respect  to  lawful  sovereigns  is  amonir  the 
plainest  dinii-;  and  a.-  St.  Hilary  called  Constantius  'a  precursor  of  Anti- 
christ,' 'a  ra-c.il/  ami  'an  object  of  malediction,'  cVe..  Xc.,  it  may  be  inferred 
that  lie  did  not  n-irard  him  as  his  lawful  sovereign.  (Puissance  EccL,  torn.  L 
pp.  031,  6o:'.j 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  139 

gravated  the  situation.  Hordes  of  savages,  fresh  from  a  life 
of  unbounded  freedom,  half-frenzied  by  the  sudden  acquisi- 
tion of  immense  wealth,  and  belonging  to  many  different 
tribes,  were  struggling  fiercely  for  the  mastery.  Society 
was  almost  resolved  into  its  primitive  elements ;  force  had 
become  the  one  measure  of  dignity.  Alone  amid  these  dis- 
cordant interests  the  Christians  taught  by  their  precepts  and 
their  example  the  obligation  of  a  moral  law,  and  habituated 
men  to  that  respect  for  authority  and  that  exercise  of  self- 
restraint  Avhich  form  the  basis  of  every  lasting  political  struc- 
ture. Had  they  followed  the  example  of  others,  they  might 
probably  have  more  than  once  saved  themselves  from  fright- 
ful persecutions,  and  would  have  certainly  become  a  formi- 
dable power  in  the  State  long  before  the  accession  of  Constan- 
tine.  But,  guided  by  a  far  nobler  instinct,  they  chose  in- 
stead to  constitute  themselves  the  champions  of  legality, 
they  irradiated  submission  with  a  purer  heroism  than  has 
ever  glowed  around  the  conqueror's  path,  and  they  kept 
alive  the  sacred  flame  at  a  time  when  it  had  almost  vanished 
from  the  earth.  We  may  say  that  they  exaggerated  their 
principle,  but  such  exaggeration  was  absolutely  essential  to 
its  etlieacy.  The  temptations  to  anarchy  and  insubordina- 
tion were  so  great,  that  had  the  doctrine  of  submission  been 
stated  with  any  qualifications,  had  it  been  stated  in  any  but 
the  most  emphatic  language,  it  would  have  proved  inopera- 
tive. Indeed,  what  cause  for  resistance  could  possibly  have 
been  more  just  than  the  persecutions  of  a  Xcro  or  a  Uiocle- 
thm  ?  Yet  it  was  in  the  reign  of  Xero  that  St.  Paul  incul- 
cated in  unequivocal  language  the  doctrine  of  passive  obe 
dience ;  and  it  was  the  boast  of  Tertullian  and  other  of  the 
Fathers,  that  at  a  time  Avhen  Koine  was  swarming  with 
Christians,  the  most  horrible  persecutions  were  endured 


140  RATIONALISM   IN   ECKOPE. 

without  a  murmur  or  a  struggle.  Such  conduct,  if  adopted 
as  a  binding  precedent,  would  arrest  the  whole  development 
of  society ;  but,  considered  in  its  own  place  in  history,  it  is 
impossible  to  overvalue  it. 

Besides  this,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  early 
Church  had  adopted  a  system  of  government  that  was  based 
upon  the  most  democratic  principles.  It  can  be  no  exagger- 
ation to  say,  that  if  the  practice  of  electing  bishops  by  uni- 
versal suffrage  had  continued,  the  habits  of  freedom  would 
have  been  so  diffused  among  the  people,  that  the  changes 
our  own  age  has  witnessed  might  have  been  anticipated  by 
many  centuries,  and  might  have  been  effected  under  the 
direct  patronage  of  Catholicism.  This,  however,  was  not  to 
be.  The  system  of  episcopal  election  was  far  in  advance  of 
the  age,  and  the  disorders  it  produced  were  so  great  that  it 
was  soon  found  necessary  to  abolish  it.  At  the  same  time 
many  circumstances  pointed  out  the  Roman  See  as  the  natu- 
ral centre  of  a  new  form  of  organisation.  The  position  Koine 
occupied  in  the  world,  the  increasing  authority  of  the  bishop 
resulting  from  the  transfer  of  the  civil  ruler  to  Constantino- 
ple, the  admirable  administrative  and  organising  genius  the 
Roman  ecclesiastics  had  inherited  from  the  Empire,  their 
sustained  ambition,  the  splendour  cast  upon  the  see  by  the 
genius  and  virtues  of  St.  Gregory  and  St.  Leo,  the  conversion 
of  the  barbarians,  the  destruction  of  the  rival  sees  of  Jerusa- 
lem, Antioch,  and  Alexandria,  and  the  Greek  schism — all 
ton-led  to  revive  in  another  form  the  empire  Rome  had  so 
long  exercised  over  the  destinies  of  mankind. 

AY  hen  the  Papal  power  was  fully  organised,  and  during 
the  whole  of  the  period  that  elapsed  between  that  time  and 
the  Reformation,  the  rights  of  nations  against  their  sover- 
eigns may  be  said  to  have  been  almost  unnoticed.  Thfi 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS  141 

great  question  concerning  the  principle  of  authority  lay  in 
the  conflicting  claims  of  temporal  sovereigns  and  of  popes. 
Although  the  power  the  latter  claimed  and  often  exercised 
over  the  former  has  produced  some  of  the  most  fearful  calam- 
ities, although  we  owe  to  it  in  a  ^reat  decree  the  Crusades 

7  O  «Z7  O 

and  religious  persecution,  and  many  of  the  worst  features  of 
the  semi-religious  struggles  that  convulsed  Italy  during  the 
middle  ages,  there  can  be  no  question  that  it  was  on  the 
whole  favourable  to  liberty.  The  simple  fact  that  nations 
acknowledged  two  different  masters  was  itself  a  barrier  to 

™ 

despotism,  and  the  Church  had  always  to  appeal  to  the  sub- 
jects of  a  sovereign  to  enforce  its  decisions  against  him. 
There  was  therefore  a  certain  bias  among  ecclesiastics  in 
favour  of  the  people,  and  it  must  be  added  that  the  mediaeval 
popes  almost  always  belonged  to  a  far  higher  grade  of  civil- 
isation than  their  opponents.  Whatever  may  have  been 
their  faults,  they  represented  the  cause  of  moral  restraint,  of 
intelligence,  and  of  humanity,  in  an  age  of  physical  force, 
ignorance,  and  barbarity. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  in  detail  the  history  of  the 
encroachments;  of  the  spiritual  upon  the  civil  power,  or  to 
enter  into  the  interminable  controversies  about  the  power  of 
deposition.  Such  topics  are  only  connected  indirectly  with 
the  subject  of  the  present  chapter,  and  they  have  been  treated 
with  great  ability  by  several  well-known  writers.1  There 

1  A  clear  secular  view  of  the  subject  is  given  by  Mr.  Ilallam,  in  the  chapter 
on  the  '  Increase  of  Ecclesiastical  Authority,'  in  his  Hist,  of  the  Middle  Ayes. 
It  has  also  been  examined  very  fully  by  Bossuet,  from  a  Galilean  point  of  view, 
In  his  Defence  of  tl,c  Articles  of  the  Galilean  Church,  and  from  an  Ultramon- 
tane point  of  view  by  l.ianehi,  On  facksiasticul  Power.  This  last  book, 
which  is  a  work  of  exceedingly  extensive  learning,  but  of  undisguised  and 
'.p.deed  dishonest  partiality,  was  publi?hed  originally  in  Italian  in  1745,  and 
directed  especially  against  the  opinions  of  Giannone.  The  French  translation 
wa*  made  in  1857,  and  eonsi>ts  of  two  (in  every  sense  of  the  word)  most 


142  BATJLO.NALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

are,  however,  two  points  connected  with  them  to  which  it 
may  be  advisable  to  refer.  In  the  first  place,  in  judging  the 
question  as  to  the  right  of  the  Pope  to  depose  sovereigns,  it 
is  evident  that  the  advantage  must  have  always  remained 
with  the  former,  in  an  age  in  which  he  was  himself  regarded 
as  the  final  arbiter  of  moral  questions.  Every  conclusion 
was  then  arrived  at  not  by  way  of  reasoning  but  by  way  of 
authority,  and.  with  the  very  doubtful  exception  of  general 
councils,  there  was  no  higher  authority  than  the  Pope. 
General  councils  too  were  rare  occurrences ;  they  could  only 
be  convened  by  the  Pope,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  they 
were  the  creatures  of  his  will.  When  a  bull  of  excommuni- 
cation had  been  launched,  the  sovereign  against  whom  it  was 
directed  might  indeed  assemble  a  council  of  the  bishops  of 
his  own  people,  and  they  might  condemn  the  excommunica- 
tion ;  but,  however  strong  might  be  their  arguments,  their 
authority  was  necessarily  inferior  to  that  which  was  opposed 
to  them.  They  might  appeal  to  the  declarations  of  the 
Fathers,  but  the  right  of  interpreting  those  declarations  rest- 
ed with  the  Church,  of  which  the  Pope  was,  in  fact,  the  au- 
thoritative representative.  Xor  had  he  any  difficulty  in  this 
respect.  If  it  was  said  that  the  early  bishops  enjoined  abso- 
lute submission  to  the  pagan  persecutors,  it  was  answered 
that  this  was  an  irrelevant  argument,  for  the  Church  only 
claimed  the  power  of  deposing  those  who  by  baptism  \vere 
placed  under  her  dominion.  If  it  was  rejoined  that  the  same 
submission  was  shown  under  Constantius  or  Talons  or 
Julian,  the  reply  was  that  the  weakness  of  the  Christians 
was  the  cause  of  their  resignation,  and  that  the  fact  of  the 
Church  possessing  the  power  of  excommunication  did  not 

ponderous  volumes.  It  is  now  the  great  standard  work  of  the  Ultramontane 
party. 


TIIE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  143 

*t  all  imply  that  she  was  "bound  on  every  legitimate  occasion 
to  exercise  it.  If,  in  fine,  the  passages  in  which  the  Fathers 
dilated  upon  the  sinfulness  of  all  rebellion  against  the  sover- 
eign were  adduced,  it  was  answered  that  the  Pope  exhorted* 
no  one  to  such  rebellion,  for  by  the  sentence  of  deposition 
the  sovereign  had  been  deprived  of  his  sovereignty.1  In  this 
way  the  Patristic  utterances  were  easily  evaded,  and  the  ec- 
clesiastical authority  of  the  Pope  made  it  almost  a  heresy  to 
question  his  claims. 

In  the  next  place,  it  should  be  observed  that  this  doctrine 
of  deposition  was  not  so  much  an  isolated  assumption  on  the 
part  of  the  Popes  as  a  logical  and  necessary  inference  from 
other  parts  of  the  teaching  of  the  Church.  The  point  on 
which  the  controversies  between  Catholics  on  this  subject 
have  chiefly  turned  is  the  right  of  the  Popes  to  condemn  any 
notorious  criminal  to  public  penance,  a  sentence  which  in- 
volved the  deprivation  of  all  civil  functions,  and  therefore  in 
(he  case  of  a  sovereign  amounted  to  deposition.3  But  whe- 
ther or  not  this  right  was  always  acknowledged  in  the 
Church,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  power  which  was 
generally  conceded  to  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  relax- 
ing or  annulling  the  obligation  of  an  oath  necessarily  led  to 
their  political  ascendency,  for  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  those 
who  acknowledged  the  existence  of  this  power  could  make 
an  exception  in  favour  of  the  oath  of  allegiance. 

"\Vhen  the  rise  of  the  scholastic  philosophy  had  intro- 
Jnced  into  Christendom  a  general  passion  for  minute  deiini' 

1  As  one  of  the  loading  supporters  of  the  Papal  party  put  it  with  amusini: 
coolness  :  '  Certe  licet  1'aulus  dixerit  "omnis  anima  potestatihus  sublimioribus 
?i.ihdita  sit,"  nun<-niam  addidit,  etiam  potestarihus  excomnnmicatis  vcl  dq>r.- 
vatis  a  papa.'  (Suarez,  De  Fi'l?,  lib.  vi.  cap.  4.) 

1  Bianchi,  Puissance  Ecclisiastigue,  torn.  i.  pp.  550-571.  Louis  le  Dehon- 
naive  seems  to  have  been  deposed  in  this  way. 


1M  JRATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

tious,  and  for  the  organisation  and  elaboration  of  all  depart- 
ments of  theology,  the  attitude  of  hostility  the  Church  had 
for  some  time  exhibited  towards  the  civil  power  was  more  or 
less  reflected  in  the  writings  that  were  produced.  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas,  indeed,  the  ablest  of  all  these  theologians,  distinctly 
asserts  the  right  of  subjects  to  withhold  their  obedience  from 
rulers  who  were  usurpers  or  unjust ; *  but  this  opinion,  which 
was  probably  in  advance  of  the  age,  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  generally  adopted,  or  at  least  generally  promulgated. 
The  right  of  popes  to  depose  princes  who  had  fallen  into 
heresy  was,  however,  at  this  time  constantly  asserted.2  To 
the  schoolmen  too  we  chiefly  owe  the  definition  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  mediate  character  of  the  Divine  Right  of  Kings, 
which  is  very  remarkable  in  the  history  of  opinions  as  the 
embryo  of  the  principles  of  Locke  and  Rousseau.  It  was 
universally  admitted  that  both  popes  and  kings  derived  their 
authority  from  the  Deity,  and  from  this  fact  the  royal  advo- 
cates inferred  that  a  pope  had  no  more  power  to  depose  a 
king  than  a  king  to  depose  a  pope.  But,  according  to  some 
of  the  schoolmen,  there  was  this  distinction  between  the 
cases :  a  pope  was  directly  and  immediately  the  representa- 
tive of  the  Almighty,  but  a  king  derived  his  power  directly 
from  the  people.  Authority,  considered  in  the  abstract,  is 

1  'Principibus  saecularibus  in  tantum  homo  obodire  tenetur  in  quantum  ordo 
jus'.itia;  rcquirit.     Et  ideo  si  non  habi-ant  justmn  prineipatum  sed  usurpatum, 
vel  si  injtista  preccipiant,  non  tenentur  ci.s  subditi  obcdirc,  nisi  forte  per  accident 
propter  virandum  scandalum  vel  periculum.'      (Summa,  1'ars  II.  Quaest.  civ. 
art.  0.) 

2  ]!<>s>urt  i-imply  remarks  that  for  some   centuries  after  St.   Thomas  the 
schonlmeii  seem  to  have  been  nearly  unanimous  on  this  point,  but  that  it   is 
manifest  that  they  were  mistaken!     (See  Bianehi,  torn.  i.  pp.  lo-l,  1'JG.)     The 
writer  aiiiontr  the  sehoolmen  who  was  most  favourable  to  liberty  was  the  Eng- 
lishman William  of  Ockham.      Olilman,  IIUl.  of  Lat'm  Christianity,  vol.  vi. 
pp.  470-474.) 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  145 

of  Divine  origin;  and  when  the  people  had  raised  a  particu- 
lar family  to  the  throne,  the  sanction  of  the  Deity  rested 
upon  its  members,  but  still  the  direct  and  immediate  source 
of  regal  power  was  the  nation.1  Although  this  doctrine  was 
not  asserted  in  the  popular  but  in  the  Papal  interest,  and  al- 
though it  was  generally  held  that  the  people,  having  trans- 
ferred their  original  authority  to  the  sovereign,  were  incapa- 
ble of  recalling  it,  except  perhaps  in  such  extreme  cases  as 
when  a  sovereign  had  sought  to  betray  to  a  foreign  power 
:he  country  he  ruled,  it  is  not  the  less  certain  that  we  have 
here  the  first  link  of  a  chain  of  principles  that  terminated  in 
the  French  Revolution. 

After  all,  however,  it  is  rather  a  matter  of  curiosity  than 
of  importance  to  trace  among  the  vast  mass  of  speculations 
bequeathed  to  us  by  the  schoolmen  the  faint  outlines  of  a 
growing  liberalism.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  opinions 
of  a  few  monkish  speculators,  however  splendid  may  have 
been  the  achievements  of  a  few  industrial  half-sceptical  re- 
publics,2 it  was  not  till  the  Reformation  that  the  rights  of  na- 

1  Suare/,  DC  J-'iJc,  lib.  iii,   cap.  2  ;  Bianchi,   eh.  i.     These  theologians  of 
course  endeavour  to  trace  back  their  distinction  to  the  origin  of  Christianity, 
but  its  formal   definition   and   systematic  enforcement  are  due  mainly  to  the 
schoolmen. 

2  The  political  influence  of  the  Italian  republics  upon  English  public  opin- 
on  was  very  powerful  in  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  habit  of  travelling 

became  general  among  the  upper  class  of  Englishmen,  and  when  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  highest  intellects  acquired  in  Italy  a  knowledge  of  the  Italian 
writers  on  government,  and  an  admiration  for  the  Italian  constitutions,  ami 
especially  lor  that  of  Venice.  The  highest  representative  of  this  action  ot  tho 
Italian  upon  the  English  intellect  was,  Harrington.  His  Oceania,  though  pub- 
lished under  the  Commonwealth  and  dedicated  to  Cromwell,  was  altogether 
uninfluenced  by  tho  inspiration  of  I'lnhum-m  ;  and  it  was  only  by  the  inter- 
cession of  Cromwell's  favourite  daughter,  I.ady  Claypole,  that  its  publicativ  u 
was  permitted.  (Tuland,  Life  uf  //./>•,•/?,<//></<.)  It  is  remarkable  that  while 
Harrington's  writings  were  avowedly  based  in  a  very  great  degree  upon,  those 
l.f  Italians,  they  al>o  repivitnt  inure  faiihfiiily  th;ui  any  others  of  the  -eseu 
9. 1 


L46  RATIONALISM   IN    EL'EOPE. 

tionalities  became  a  great  question  in  Europe.  The  spirit  of 
insubordination  created  by  the  struggle,  and  the  numerous 
important  questions  which  Protestantism  submitted  to  the 
adjudication  of  the  multitude,  predisposed  the  people  to  en- 
large the  limits  of  their  power;  while  the  countless  sect:? 
that  Avere  appealing  to  popular  favour,  and  the  frequent  op- 
position of  belief  between  the  governors  and  the  governed, 
ensured  a  full  discussion  of  the  subject.  The  result  of  this 
was  the  creation  of  a  great  variety  of  opinions,  the  views 
of  each  sect  being  determined  mainly  by  its  circumstances, 
or,  in  other  words,  by  the  predisposition  resulting  from  its 
interests. 

If  we  begin  our  review  with  the  Ultramontane  party  in 
the  Church  of  Koine,  which  especially  represented  the 
opinions  of  the  Popes,  we  find  that  it  was  confronted  with 
two  great  facts.  In  the  first  place,  a  multitude  of  sovereigns 
had  embraced  Protestantism  simply  to  emancipate  them- 
selves from  Papal  control;  and  in  the  next  place,  the  Cath- 
olic population  in  several  countries  was  sufficiently  numerous 
to  resist  with  some  chance  of  success  their  Protestant  rulers. 
The  points,  therefore,  which  were  most  accentuated  in  the 
teaching  of  the  writers  of  this  school,  were  the  powoi  jf  the 

tffiith  century  what  are  regarded  as  the  di-tinctive  morn.-  of  English  liberty, 
i'hjt  a  {,'ood  government  is  an  oru.mi.-m,  nut  a  mechanism — in  oilier  \\ords,  that 
it  mu.-t  urow  natur.dlv  out  of  the  condition  of  society,  and  cannot  lie  impo-i  d 
bv  theorists — that  representative  assemblies  with  full  powers  aiv  the:  sole  t-fli- 
feiit  r;  irdians  of  liberty — tliat  liberty  of  conscience  inu>t  be  allied  with  pol't- 
i'.ui  libel  ty — that  a  certain  liaLtnce  should  be  preserved  between  the  difl'eunt 
p.'iwi.  rs  of  the  State,  and  th.it  property  produces  empire,  are  amoiiLr  the  mair. 
t  vop')-itii.r.::  nn  \vl:i'-h  llnrrin^'ton  in^i-t-;  and  i;.o.-t  of  them  r.i'i-  cv('ii  now  thu 
niuiii  points  of  di)li-ri  nee  between  English  liberty  and  that  which  er.KMiatea 
rroisi  a  Eri.'Hch  F"iirec.  Harrington  was  al-o  a  warm  ad.vncnte  of  the  b,-,',h.t. 
He  was  answered  bv  Fern,',  lii-hup  of  Cluster,  in  a  book  calh  d  Plan-Piano; 
by  Matthew  Wiei:.  son  of  the  Jlkh'.p  of  El}  ;  and  in  the  //"(<.'  C<-'>iunO)tti:ifi'tk 
sf  Baxter. 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS. 

Pope  to  depose  sovereigns,  especially  for  heresy,  and  the 
right  of  the  people  to  resist  an  heretical  ruler.  The  vigour 
with  which  these  propositions  were  maintained  is  sufficiently 
illustrated  by  the  dealings  of  the  Popes  with  the  English 
Government ;  and  the  arguments  in  their  support  were  cm- 
bodied  by  Cardinal  Bellarmine  in  his  treatise  '  On  the  Su- 
premacy of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  over  Temporal  Affairs,'  and 
by  the  famous  Jesuit  Suarez  in  his  '  Defence  of  the  Faith.' 
The  Parliament  of  Paris  ordered  the  first  of  these  works  to 
be  "burnt  in  1610,  and  the  second  in  1C14. 

The  most  ardent  and  by  far  the  most  able  champions  of 
Ultramontanism  were  the  Jesuits,  who,  however,  went  so  far 
beyond  the  other  theologians  in  their  principles  that  they  may 
be  justly  regarded  as  a  separate  class.  The  marvellous  flex- 
ibility of  intellect  and  the  profound  knowledge  of  the  world 
that  then  at  least  characterised  their  order,  soon  convinced 
them  that  the  exigencies  of  the  conflict  were  not  to  be  met 
by  following  the  old  precedents  of  the  Fathers,  and  that  it 
was  necessary  to  restrict  in  every  way  the  overgrown  power 
of  the  sovereigns.  They  saw,  what  no  others  in  the  Catholic 
Church  seem  to  have  perceived,  that  a  great  future  was  in 
store  for  the  people,  and  they  laboured  with  a  zeal  that  will 
secure  them  everlasting  honour  to  hasten  and  direct  the 
emancipation.  By  a  system  of  the  boldest  casuistry,  by  a 
fearless  use  of  their  private  judgment  in  all  matters  which 
the  Church  had  not  strictly  defined,  and  above  all  by  a  skil- 
ful employment  and  expansion  of  some  of  the  maxims  of  the 
fxhoolmen,  they  succeeded  in  disentangling  themselves  from 
Ihe  traditions  of  the  past,  and  in  giving  an  impulse  to  liber- 
alism wherever  their  influence  extended.  Suarez.  in  the  book 
to  which  I  have  just  referred,  devoted  himself  especially  to 
the  question  of  the  mediate  or  immediate  nature  of  the  Divine 


148  NATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

Right  of  Kings.1  It  was  a  question,  he  acknowledged,  that 
could  not  be  decided  either  by  Scripture  or  the  Fathers  ;  but 
the  schoolmen  were  on  the  whole  favourable  to  the  latter 
view,  and  the  Popes  had  often  asserted  their  own  authority 
over  sovereigns,  which,  according  to  Ultramontane  princi- 
ples, was  almost  decisive  of  the  question.  He  elaborated 
the  doctrine  of  the  '  social  contract '  with  such  skill  and  em- 
phasis as  to  place  the  sovereign  altogether  upon  a  lower  level 
than  the  nation,  while  the  Pope  tOAvered  over  all.  Accord- 
ing to  these  principles,  the  interests  of  the  sovereign  should 
be  subordinated  to  those  of  the  people.  The  king  derived 
all  his  power  immediately  from  the  State ;  and  in  a  case  of 
extreme  misgovernment,  when  the  preservation  of  the  State 
required  it,  the  nation  might  depose  its  sovereign,2  and  might, 
if  necessary,  depute  any  person  to  kill  him.3  The  case  of  an 
heretical  prince  was  still  plainer ;  for  heresy  being  a  revolt 
against  that  Divine  authority  to  which  the  sovereign  ulti- 
mately owed  his  power,  it  in  a  certain  sense  annulled  his  title 
to  the  throne.  Still,  as  the  Pope  was  the  arbiter  of  these 

1  Suarez,  De  Fi<le,  lib.  iii.  cap.  2.  This  book  of  Suarez  was  written  in 
reply  to  one  by  James  I.  of  England. 

3  lie  savs  that  '  Potestatem  lianc  dcponendi  rege?n  csse  posse  vel  in  5  p=a 
republica  vel  in  Smrmio  Pontifice,  diverso  tarn  en  rnodo.  Nam  in  republics 
soliini  per  moduli)  defensionis  neees-ari;u  ad  consrrvationcm  &uam,  .  . 
turn  ex  vi  juris  naturalis.  quo  licet  vim  vi  rcpcllere,  turn  quia  semper  hie  casiid 
ad  propriam  reipublicaj  conservationem  ueces.-arius,  intclligitur  exceptus  in 
primo  illo  fiederc  quo  rcspublica  potestatem  suain  in  ivgem  tnm-tulit.  .  .  . 
At  vei-o  in  Summo  Pontifiee  e^t  hire  pote.-tas  t:ui'[n;ini  in  supcriovi  habcnto 
jurisdictionem  ad  corripiendum  reu'f.-.'  (J)e.  l-"nlr,  lib.  vi.  cap.  iv.) 

'  'Krgo  ((uando  respulilica  juste  pote.st  reirom  deriom-re,  ivcte  faciunt  minis- 
t.ri  ejus  rcLrem  co'_f(iido  vel  interficiendo  'A  !-it  iiccesse.'  (Ibid.)  Snaiez  adil?, 
however,  that  before  pronoimeincr  a  Fe'itcnr-e  of  depo-it'oii  n^-iinst  the  sov- 
ereign, it  is  at  least  advisable  and  becoming  (though  not  absolutely  necessary) 
for  the  nation  to  apply  to  the  Pope  for  his  sanet'on.  This  iiniiou  has  bcetl 
developed  at  length  by  DC  Mai-nv,  /.<;  /'a^f. 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  149 

questions,  a  sentence  of  deposition  should  precede  rebellion  ' 
The  Pope  had  the  power  of  issuing  this  sentence  on  two 
grounds — because  he  was  the  superior  of  the  temporal  ruler, 
and  also  because  heresy  was  a  crime  which  fell  under  his 
cognisance,  and  which  was  worthy  of  temporal  penalties.  To 
deny  that  the  Pope  could  inflict  such  penalties  on  heretics,  no 
matter  what  may  be  their  rank,  is  to  fall  under  the  suspicion 
of  heresy;1  to  deny  that  death  is  a  natural  punishment  for 
heresy  was  to  assail  the  whole  system  of  persecution  which 
the  Church  had  organised.  In  defending  this  doctrine 
against  the  charges  brought  against  it  on  the  ground  of  its 

o  o  o  o  o 

dangerous  consequences,  Suarez  maintained  that  the  deposed 
king  could  only  be  killed  by  those  whom  the  Pope  had  ex- 
pressly authorised  ; 3  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
Jesuits  looked  with  a  very  indulgent  eye  on  all  attempts  at 
assassination  that  were  directed  against  a  deposed  sovereign 
who  was  in  opposition  to  the  Church. 

It  would,  however,  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  Je- 
suits advocated  liberal  principles  only  with  a  view  to  theo- 
logical advantages,  or  in  Protestant  countries,  or  under  the 
shelter  of  ecclesiastical  authorities.  .More  than  once  they 
maintained  even  their  most  extreme  forms  in  the  midst  of 
Catholic  nations,  and,  strange  as  the  assertion  may  appear,  it 
is  in  this  order  that  we  find  some  of  the  most  rationalistic  in- 
tellects of  the  age.  Two  of  the  leading  characteristics  of  a 

'  Statim  per  lux'iohn  rex  ip=o  facto  privatur  aliquo  modo  duminio  et  pro 
pi'ict.xto  sui  reu'ni,  quia  vel  cuntiscatum  nuiiiet  vel  ad  legitiraum  succe^sorem 
Oatholicuni  ipso  jure  transit,  et,  mliilomimis  nun  pote-t  statim  regno  piivari, 
Kd  juste  illud  por-.-idet  et  adminir-trat  dmiuc  per  seiitentiam  saltern  decLini 
toriani  eriiniiii?  condcmnotur.'  (Lib.  vi.  cap  iv.) 

5  JJianchi  has  collected  a  .-triking  chain  of  passages  in  defence  of  this  pro- 
position (turn,  i.  pp.  145-1-it;. 

s  '  >i  1'apu  rcuein  deponat,  ib  illis  tautuin  poterit  expelli  vel  inter iki  ijuibu* 
ipde  id  comniisL-tit.'  (Dc  Fide,  lib.  vi.  c.  iv.) 


150  RATIONALISM   IN    EUEOPE. 

rationalistic  mind,  as  we  have  already  seen,  are  a  love  of  ap- 
pealing to  the  general  principles  of  natural  religion  rathei 
than  to  dogmatic  tenets,  and  a  disposition  to  wrest  the  latter 
into  conformity  Avith  the  former ;  and  of  these  two  tendencies 
we  find  among  the  Jesuits  some  striking  examples.  The  fa- 
mous work  of  Mariana  '  Concerninc;  the  Kincr  and.  the  Repal 

o  o  o 

Institution  '  will  furnish  us  with  an  illustration  of  these  truths. 
This  extremely  remarkable  book  was  published  at  Toledo 
in  1599,  and  it  bears  at  its  commencement  the  approbation 
of  the  leaders  of  the  Jesuits.1  It  was  dedicated  to  Philip  III., 
for  whose  benefit  it  was  written ;  and  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that,  among  the  countless  works  that  have  been  dedi- 
cated to  sovereigns,  it  would  be  impossible  to  find  one  more 
free  from  the  taint  of  adulation.  Its  ostensible  object  was 
to  collect  a  series  of  moral  precepts  for  the  benefit  of  sover- 
eigns, but  the  really  important  part,  and  that  with  which  we 
are  alone  concerned,  is  the  examination  of  the  rights  of  na- 
tions against  their  sovereigns.  The  cardinal  point  upon 
which  this  examination  turns  is  a  distinction  which  some  of 
the  schoolmen  had  derived  from  Aristotle,  and  which  became 
very  prominent  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
between  a  king  and  a  tyrant,  as  two  tilings  almost  generi- 
c-ally different.  A  ruler  who  belonged  to  the  latter  class  had 
no  right  to  the  name  of  kin<jf,  nor  could  he  claim  the  privi- 
leges or  the  reverence  attached  to  it ;  and  to  be  a  tyrant,  as 
Mariana  explained,  it  was  not  necessary  to  be  a  usurper.1 
Kvcry  ruler,  however  legitimate,  belongs  to  this  category  if 
ihe  main  principle  of  his  government  is  selfishness,  and  if  lie 
Uab.'t  nail y  sacrifices  the  interests  of  his  people  to  his  lusts  01 


THE    SECULAEISATION   OF    POLITICS.  151 

to  his  pride.  Such  rulers  are  the  worst  of  evils,  the  enemies 
of  the  human  race.  They  had  been  figured  by  the  ancients 
in  the  fables  of  Antaeus,  the  Hydra,  and  the  Chimera,  and  the 
greatest  achievements  of  the  heroes  of  antiquity  had  been 
their  destruction.' 

This  being  the  case,  the  important  question  arose,  whether 
it  is  now  lawful  to  kill  a  tyrant?*  That  there  should  be  no 
equivocation  as  to  the  nature  of  the  inquiry,  Mariana  takes 
for  his  text  the  recent  assassination  of  Henry  III.  of  France 
by  Clement.  lie  relates,  in  a  tone  of  evident  admiration, 
how  tliis  young  Dominican,  impelled  by  a  religious  enthu- 
siasm, and  having  fortified  his  courage  by  the  services  of  the 
Church,  had  contrived  to  obtain  an  interview  with  the  king,  had 
stabbed  him  to  deatli  with  a  poisoned  knife,  and  had  himself 
fallen  beneath  the  swords  of  the  attendants.  '  Thus,'  he  says, 
'  did  Clement  perish  as  many  deem  the  eternal  honour  of 
France — a  youth  but  four-and-t \venty  years  of  age,  simple  in 
mind  and  weak  in  body;  but  a  higher  might  continued  both 
his  courage  and  his  strength.'  3 

In  examining  the  moral  character  of  this  act,  there  was  a 
great  division  of  opinion.  Very  many  extolled  it  as  worthy 
of  immortality  ;  others,  however,  whose  learning  and  sagacity 
were  not  to  be  despised,  severely  condemned  it.  They  said 
that  it  was  not  lawful  for  a  single  unauthorised  individual  to 
condemn  and  slaughter  the  consecrated  ruler  of  a  nation  ; 
that  David  did  not  dare  to  slay  his  bitterest  enemy  because 
that  enemy  was  the  Lord's  Anointed;  that  amid  all  the  per- 
fiecutions  the  early  Ciiurch  underwent,  no  Christiai  hand 

:   7>  R':iC  <  I  Kris  Ltxt'.tntirnc,  p.  r,2. 

"  Ilti'l.  lib.  i.  eli.  vi.     'An  tyruiumin  opjirimcvc 

3  P.  r>9.     Mr.   Halhun    observes   ilnt    tlu;  won 
smv  oiuittfil  in   t!v  l:;t>T  r.iitions,  wliK'!>,  however. 
di'.U.Tol  from  tii*,'  i!i>:.     i  //V.  ^-f  Li'.} 


152  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

was  ever  raised  against  the  monsters  who  filled  the  throne  ^ 
that  political  assassinations  have,  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases,  injured  the  cause  they  were  meant  to  serve,  and  that 
if  their  legitimacy  were  admitted,  all  respect  for  sovereigns 
would  vanish  and  universal  anarchy  would  ensue.  '  Such,' 
added  Mariana,  '  are  the  arguments  of  those  who  espouse  the 
cause  of  the  tyrant,  but  the  champions  of  the  people  can 
urge  others  that  are  not  less  numerous  or  less  powerful.'  ' 
lie  then  proceeds,  in  a  strain  that  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  his 
own  opinion,  to  enumerate  the  arguments  for  tyrannicide. 
The  people  had  conceded  a  certain  measure  of  their  power  to 
their  sovereign,  but  not  in  such  a  manner  that  they  did  not 
themselves  retain  a  greater  authority,  and  might  not  at  any 
time  recall  what  they  had  given  if  it  was  misused.*  The 
common  voice  of  mankind  had  enrolled  the  great  tyranni- 
cides of  the  past  among  the  noblest  of  their  race.  "Who  ever 
censured  the  acts  or  failed  to  admire  the  heroism  of  Harmo- 
dius  or  Aristogeiton  or  Brutus,  or  of  those  who  freed  their 
land  from  the  tyranny  of  a  Domitian,  a  Caracalla,  or  a  lie- 
lioirabalus  ?  And  what  was  this  common  sentiment  but  the 
voice  of  nature  that  is  within  us,  teaching  us  to  distinguish 
what  is  ri'^ht  from  what  is  wronic  ?  *  If  some  ferocious  beast 
liad  been  let  loo-c  upon  the  land,  and  Avas  devastating  all 
around  him,  who  would  hesitate  to  applaud  the  man  who,  at 


3  •  Ci-rtc  a  rqmbliea  un<le  ortuin  liabet  rc^ia  putcstas,  rebus  exi^entibia 
Ri-Liem  in  jus  vijcari  po-~c-  et  .-i  .smitateiu  iv.spuat  principal!!  spoliari.  Xcque 
itu  ii;  princijjijin  jura  potr-slatis  tran-tulit  ut  non  r-ibi  inajurem  reMrrvarit  potes- 
tatein,  .  .  .  I'opulis  voleiitibus  tributa  nova  ii:rp>Tantur,  li-ucs  con.-iitu- 
uutar;  et  quo'!  t-.-t  aiiipliu.-  pnpuli  .-acranii'iito  jura  iiuperiiivii  <iu;1i)j\-is  hifiv>li- 
taj^a  fcv.ccfj.-son  contirinantur  '  fpp.  72,  7-i).  Very  remarkablij  woi'ils  to  LUVL' 
been  wiitten  Ijy  a  Sianianl  ami  a  pi'ic.-t  ii(\irly  a  century  bd'ore  Locko. 

3  '  Et  e.-t  cdninninis  sonniis  qua.-i  (purdaHi  natune  vox  ineiitibiis  nr'Stril 
U'iit.i,  a'lrilmi  in^ijnan-  lex,  qua  a  iiirpi  huiie.-tiiiii  .seeerniniu^.'  (ji.  74.) 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS  153 

the  risk  of  his  life,  had  ventured  to  slay  it  ?  Or  what  words 
would  be  deemed  too  strong  to  brand  the  coward  who  re- 
mained a  passive  spectator  while  his  mother  or  the  wife  of  his 
soul  was  torn  and  crushed?  Yet  the  most  savage  animal  is 
but  an  inadequate  image  of  a  tyrant,  and  neither  wife  nor 
mother  has  so  high  a  claim  upon  our  aifections  as  our 
country.1 

These  were  the  chief  arguments  on  either  side,  and  it 
remained  to  draw  the  conclusion.  The  task,  Mariana  assures 
us,  is  not  difficult,  but  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between 
different  cases.  In  the  first  place,  the  tyrant  may  be  a  con- 
queror who  by  force  of  arms,  and  without  any  appeal  to  the 
people,  had  obtained  possession  of  the  sovereign  power.  In 
this  case  there  was  no  obscurity  :  the  example  of  Ehud  was 
a  guide,  and  the  tyrant  might  be  justly  slain  by  any  of  the 
people.2  The  next  case  was  that  of  a  sovereign  elected  by  the 
nation,  or  who  had  obtained  his  throne  by  hereditary  right, 
but  who  sacrificed  his  people  to  his  lusts,  infringed  the  laws, 
despised  true  religion,  and  preyed  upon  the  fortunes  of  his 
subjects.  If  there  existed  in  the  nation  any  authoritative 
assembly  of  the  people,  or  if  such  an  assembly  could  be  con- 
voked, it  should  warn  the  sovereign  of  the  consequences  of 
his  acts,  declare  war  against  him  it'  he  continued  obdurate, 
ami,  if  no  oilier  resource  remained,  pronounce  him  to  be  a 
public  enemy  and  authorise  any  individual  to  slay  him.3  If 

1  Pj..  7:2-74. 

2  '  In  eo  consentirc  tuin  philosophos  tain  theologo?  video  oum  principal) 
qui  vi  ct  annis  reinpublic.ua  oceupavit  nullo  praeterea  jure,  nullo  publieo  civiun: 
C0iseii.su,  perimi  a  quocumque,  vita  et  prineipatu  spoliari  posse.'     (pp.  74,  75.* 
A.  few  lines  lower  cumes  the  uulo.sy  of  Ehud.      The 'consenting  theologians' 
are    not    cited — and,   indeed,    Mariana    seareely   ever  quotes   an   ceelesia~tieal 
authority — but  the  reader  may  lind  a  mvat  many  laveu  in  Suarez  (De  Fi-lr, 
lit),  vi.  cap.  iv.).     St.  Thomas  justified  Khud  on  this  general  ground,  and  in 
this  point  seem.-  to  h;kve  dill'eivd  little  or  not  at  all  from  Mariana. 

3  '  :Si    medicinam   re-puai   princvps,   neque  spes   ulla  sanitati.-  ivlinquatur, 


154  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

in  the  last  place  the  king  who  had  degenerated  into  a  tyiant 
had  supressed  the  right  of  assembly,  no  steps  should  be  taken 
unless  the  tyranny  was  flagrant,  unquestionable,  and  intoler- 
able ;  but  if  this  were  so,  the  individual  who,  interpreting  the 
wishes  of  the  people,  slew  the  sovereign  should  be  applauded.' 
Nor  was  this  doctrine  likely  to  lead  to  as  many  tragedies  as 
was  supposed.  '  Happy  indeed  would  it  be  for  mankind  were 
there  many  of  sucli  unflinching  resolution  as  to  sacrifice  life 
and  happiness  for  the  liberty  of  their  country ;  but  the 
desire  of  safety  withholds  most  men  from  great  deeds,  and 
this  is  why  of  the  great  multitude  of  tyrants  so  few  have 
perished  by  the  sword.'  '  It  is,  however,  a  salutary  thought 
for  princes  to  dwell  upon,  that  if  they  oppress  their  people 
and  make  themselves  intolerable  by  their  vices,  to  slay  them 
is  not  only  without  guilt,  but  is  an  act  of  the  highest  merit." 
There  was,  however,  one  aspect  of  the  question  of  tyran- 
nicide which  presented  to  the  mind  of  our  author  consider- 
able difficulty,  and  to  which  he  devoted  a  separate  chapter. 
That  to  slay  a  tyrant  with  a  dagger  was  a  meritorious  act  he 
was  perfectly  convinced,  but  to  mingle  poison  with  his  food 
was  a  somewhat  different  matter.  This  distinction,  Mariana 
tells  us  incidentally,  was  first  suggested  to  him,  many  years 
before  the  publication  of  the  book,  by  (mo  of  his  scholars, 
when,  as  a  public  instructor,  he  was  impressing  his  doctrines 

senti.-ntia  prrinmieiat-i  licHtit  ivi]rib]ii.-;ij  cjn-  imp'-nuni  di'trcrtare  priimim,  el 
quoniain  bellum  necc.s.sario  concitabitur  cju.s  dd'eii>!undi  eon.-iiia  e.xplicarc.  .  .  , 
Et  si  res  ferct  neque  iiliter  sc  rospublieri  tuori  po.-i.-it,  codem  dcffiixioiiis  jure  ac 
Tero  potiore  auctoriUite  ct  propria,  principein  publicurn  ho.stem  doelaratum 
ferro  pcriinep.'.  Eadurnque  faculta.s  csto  cuiouniquc  private,  qui  «pe  impunita- 
tis  abjcctii,  i:'-_lecta  --aliiti.1,  in  coi:atum  jiivandi  rcinpuljlicam  iii^n.1'!!  voluerit.' 
fp.  76.) 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  155 

upon  the  youth  of  Sicily.1  The  way  in  which  he  resolves  it 
is  very  remarkable,  as  exhibiting  the  modes  of  thought  or 
reasoning  from  which  these  speculations  sprang.  He  in  the 
first  place  shows  very  clearly  that  nearly  every  argument 
that  justifies  the  one  mode  of  slaughter  may  be  also  urged  in 
favour  of  the  other ;  but  notwithstanding  this  he  concludes 
that  poison  should  be  prohibited,  because  he  says  it  is  pro- 
hibited by  that  common  sentiment  of  mankind  which  is  the 
voice  of  nature  and  the  test  of  right.2 

The  doctrine  of  tyrannicide,  of  which  Mariana  may  be 
regarded  as  the  chief  apostle,  is  one  that  is  eminently  fitted 
to  fascinate  men  who  are  just  emerging  out  of  a  protracted 
servitude,  and  who  have  not  yet  learned  to  calculate  the 
ulterior  consequences  of  political  acts.  To  slay  a  royal  crim- 
inal, who,  for  the  gratification  of  his  own  insatiable  vanity, 
is  causing  the  deaths  of  thousands  of  the  innocent,  and  blast 
ing  the  prosperity  of  his  nation,  is  an  act  that  seems  at  first 
sight  both  laudable  and  useful,  especially  if  that  sovereign 
had  violated  the  obligations  by  which  lie  had  bound  himself. 
A  man  who  lias  committed  an  act  of  treason,  which  the  law 
would  punish  by  death,  has  incurred  a  penalty  and  retained 

1  P.  83. 

2  'Xos  tamen  non  quid  f'acturi  shit  homines  sed  quid  per  naturcc  leges  con- 
cessum  sit  despicimus.          .     .     Et  cst  naturae  vox  communis  hominum  sen- 
KUS  vitupcrantium  ?i  qtiis  in  alios  quantumvis  liostcs  veneno  grnssetur.'     (pp. 
S3-S5.)     It  is  said  that  Mariana,  in  his  History,  lias  treated  kings  with  consid- 
erable del'ert  nee  ;  but  his  anti-monarchical  opinions  appear  very  strongly  in  a 
short  work  called  ;  Discourse  on  the  Defects  of  the  Government  of  the  Jesuits,' 
which  contains — what  is  extremely  rare  in  the  writings  of  the  members  of  the 
order — a  bitter  attack  on  the  general,  and  a  fierce  denunciation  of  the  despotic 
principles  on  which  the  society  is  constituted.     The  following  (which  I  quote 
from  a  French  translation  of  16'JS)  is  very  characteristic  : — '^elon  mon  opinion 
la  monarchic  nous  met  par  tcrre,  non  pour  estre  monarchic  ains  pour  n'estra 
bien  ternperee.     C'est  uu  furieux  sandier  qui  ravage  tout  par  ou  il  passe,  et  s« 
on  ne  1'arreste  tout  court,  nous  ne  devons  e-perer  de  ivpos.'     (eh.  x.) 


156  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

a  privilege.  The  penalty  is  that  he  should  be  pat  to  death  ; 
the  privilege  is  that  he  should  only  be  put  to  death  by  the 
constituted  authorities  and  in  the  legal  way.  But  if  in  addi- 
tion to  his  original  crime  he  has  paralysed  the  law  that 
should  avenge  it,  it  may  plausibly  be  argued  that  he  has 
forfeited  his  privilege  :  he  has  placed  himself  above  the  law, 
and  has  therefore  placed  himself  out  of  the  law  and  become 
an  outlaw.  Besides  this,  the  exceedingly  prominent  place 
tyrannicide  occupies  in  the  history  both  of  the  Greeks,  the 
Romans,  and  the  Jews,  tells  powerfully  upon  the  imagination, 
and  it  is  quite  certain  that  none  of  these  nations  looked  upon 
the  act  with  the  feelings  of  modern  Englishmen. 

But  to  those  who  take  a  wider  view  of  the  field  of  politics, 
the  immense  danger  of  encouraging  individuals  to  make  them- 
selves the  arbiters  of  the  destinies  of  a  nation  will  be  far  more 
than  sufficient  to  counterbalance  these  arguments.  The  de- 
gree of  favour  that  public  opinion  shows  to  political  assassi- 
nations, though  by  no  means  the  sole,  is  perhaps  the  princi- 
pal regulator  of  their  number  ;  for  although  the  conspirator 
may  be  prepared  to  encounter  universal  obloquy,  the  direc- 
tion his  enthusiasm  has  taken  is,  in  the  first  instance,  deter- 
mined by  the  mental  atmosphere  lie  breathes.  And  if  it  be 
true,  as  Mariana  asserts,  that  the  number  of  those  who 
possess  sufficient  resolution  to  engage  in  such  enterprises  is 
under  all  cases  small,  it  is  also  true  that  tho>c  few  would 
usually  be  men  preeminently  unlit  to  adjudicate  upon  the 
policy  of  nations.  For  the  amount  of  heroism  it  evokes  is 
no  test  or  measure  of  the  excellence  of  a  cause.  Indeed, 
nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  the  highest  displays 
of  courage,  self-sacrifice,  and  enthusiasm  are  usually  elicited 
not  by  thi.isc  motives  of  general  philanthropy  which  all  men 
mu>t  applaud,  but  by  attachment  to  some  particular  class  of 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  157 

disputed  questions  or  to  the  interests  of  some  particulai 
party.  The  excitement  of  controversy,  the  very  fact  that 
the  opinions  in  question  have  but  few  adherents,  the  impossi- 
bility of  triumphing  by  normal  means,  and  the  concentration 
of  every  thought  upon  a  single  aspect  of  a  single  subject,  all 
etimiilate  fanaticism.  The  great  majority  of  men  will  do  far 
more  for  a  cause  they  have  espoused  in  spite  of  the  opposi- 
tion of  those  around  them,  than  for  one  that  is  unquestion- 
ably good.  AYc  accordingly  find  that  among  the  many  at- 
tempts that  were  made  upon  the  lives  of  rulers  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  nearly  all  were  produced  by  attachment  to 
Certain  religious  opinions  which  the  conspirator  desired  to 
see  predominate,  and  from  which  an  immense  propo?  tion  of 
the  people  dissented.  Xevcr  was  there  a  spirit  of  more 
complete  and  courageous  self-sacrifice  than  instigated  Ravail- 
lac  to  slay  perhaps  the  very  best  sovereign  in  modern 
Etirope.  And  have  we  not,  in  our  own  day,  seen  the  repre- 
sentatives of  a  sect  of  revolutionists  whose  principles  are  re- 
jected by  the  great  majority  of  educated  men  attempting, 
again  and  again,  to  further  their  views  by  the  assassination 
of  a  monarch  of  a  different  nation  from  their  own,  whose 
throne  is  based  upon  universal  suffrage,  and  who,  in  the 
judgment  of  at  least  a  very  large  proportion  of  his  contem- 
poraries, has  proved  himself  the  chief  pillar  of  order  in 
Europe  ? 

These  considerations,  which  the  old  Jesuit  Avriters  com- 
pletely omitted,  serve  to  show  that  even  in  the  best  case — 
even  in  those  instances  in  which  the  conspirator  is  seeking 
only  what  lie  firmly  believes  to  be  good — the  practice  <»f 
tyrannicide  is  almost  always  an  evil.  But  we  have  to  add 
to  this  the  assassinations  from  corrupt  motives  that  in  socie- 
ties favourable  to  tyrannicide  have  always  been  frequent ;  we 


158  EATIOXALISM  IN  EUROPE. 

have  to  add  also  the  danger  to  the  State  resulting  from  that 
large  class  of  men  so  prominent  in  all  criminal  records  who 
verge  upon  the  border  of  insanity,  who,  partly  from  an  ex- 
cess of  vanity  and  partly  from  natural  weakness  of  volition, 
and  partly  under  the  influence  of  a  kind  of  monomania,  are 
drawn  by  an  irresistible  fascination  to  the  perpetration  of 
any  crime  surrounded  with  circumstances  of  notoriety;  and 
when  we  still  further  consider  the  perpetual  insecurity  and 
the  distrust  between  sovereign  and  people  that  must  neces- 
sarily exist  when  these  conspiracies  are  frequent,  we  shall 
have  little  hesitation  in  pronouncing  upon  the  question.  Po- 
litical assassination  is  denounced,  in  general  terms,  as  an 
atrocious  crime,  simply  because  in  the  great  majority  of  in- 
stances it  is  so  ;  and  even  in  the  extremely  few  cases  that  are 
generally  recognised  as  exceptions,  we  have  to  deduct  from 
the  immediate  advantages  that  were  obtained  the  evil  of  an 
example  that  has  been  misused. 

It  is  arguments  of  this  kind,  drawn  from  expediency,  that 
are  now  regarded  as  most  decisive  on  this  as  on  many  other 
questions  of  political  ethics ;  but  they  could  have  little 
weight  in  the  early  stages  of  political  life,  when  the  minds 
of  men  were  still  moulded  by  theological  discussions,  and 
were  consequently  predisposed  to  deduce  all  conclusions  with 
an  inflexible  logic  from  general  principles.  Tyrannicide  ac- 
cordingly occupied  an  extremely  prominent  place  in  the 
revival  of  liberalism  in  Europe.  The  first  instance  in  which 
it  was  formally  supported  by  a  theologian  appears  to  have 
been  in  1-iOS,  shortly  alter  the  Duke  of  Orleans  had  been 
Daurdered  at  the  instigation  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  when 
a  pric.-t,  and.  as  is  generally  said,  a  Franciscan,1  named  John 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  159 

Petit,  who  was  then  professor  of  theology  in  the  University 
of  Paris,  justified  the  act,  and  delivered  a  public  oration  in 
defence  of  the  thesis,  '  That  it  is  lawful,  according  to  natural 
and  divine  laAV,  for  every  subject  to  slay  or  cause  to  be  slain 
a  traitor  and  disloyal  tyrant.'  This  doctrine  was  afterwards 
energetically  denounced  by  Gerson  and  condemned  by  the 
Council  of  Constance.1  After  the  Reformation,  however,  it 
was  very  widely  diffused.  Grevin,  one  of  the  immediate  suc- 
cessors of  Jodelle,  and  therefore  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
French  Drama,  brought  it  upon  the  stage  in  a  play  upon 
'The  Death  of  Casar,'  which  was  first  acted  in  1500,  and 
was  reprinted  with  an  anti-monarchical  preface  at  the  time 
of  Ravaillac."  A  few  years  before  the  publication  of  the 
work  of  Mariana,  no  less  than  three  Jesuits — Franciscus  To- 
letus,  Emmanuel  Sa,  and  the  famous  Molina — had  defended 
it.'  The  first,  who  was  made  a  cardinal  in  1583,  justified  it 
chiefly  in  the  case  of  tyrants  who  had  usurped  dominion  ;  * 

006)  that  there  is  some  doubt  upon  the  point.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that 
the  duke  who  instigated  the  murder,  and  probably  inspired  the  apology,  died 
himself  by  the  hand  of  an  assas>in.  (Van  Bniyssel,  Hist.  <Ju  Commerce  JBelge, 
torn.  ii.  pp.  48,  49.) 

1  Mariana  rejects  this  decree  without  hesitation,  on  Ultramontane  prin- 
ciples, as  not  having  been  confirmed  by  the  Pope  (De  Reyc,  p.  79).  Suarez 
eeems  to  think  it  binding,  but  argues  (De  File,  lib.  vi.  c.  4)  that  it  applies  only 
to  tyrants  in  rcy'iinine,  because  the.  Council  condemns  the  opinion  that  'sn!>- 
jects'  may  slay  a  tyrant,  and  a  tyrant  in  tituh  has,  properly  speaking,  no  '  sub- 
jeets.' 

3  There  is  a  full  notice  of  this  play  in  Charles,  La  Conn' 'fin  en  France  an 
Scizicme  Silcle. 

3  Sa  was  a  Portuguese — the  other  two  were  Spaniards.     The  prominence 
ifii?  doctrine  acquired  in  Spain  in  the  reL'n  of  Philip  H.  is   probably  in   part 
Jue  to  the  coute:4  of  Spain  with  Elizabeth,  who  was  regarded  as  a  tyrant  both 
in  '.ittilo  and  in  reyhninc,  and  consequently  naturally  marked  out  for  assassina- 
tion.     Mariana's  book  was  probably  written  under  Philip  II.,  for  the  royal 
privilege  to  print  it,  was  granted  only  three  months  after  the  death  of  that  kin::. 

4  '  Adverte  duplicem  esso  tyranuum  unum  potentate  et  dominio  qui   nou 
habet  titulum  verum,  sed  tyrannice  occupat   rempublicam  :  et  hune  licet  occi 


160  RATIONALISM    LN    EUROPE. 

but  intimated  also,  that  the  nation  might  depose  a  lawful 
sovereign,  that  it  might  condemn  him  to  death,  and  that  then 
any  individual  might  slay  him.  Sa  :  and  Molina  a  expressed 
the  same  opinion  with  still  greater  emphasis,  and  Balthazar 
Ayala,  the  most  illustrious  Spanish  lawyer  of  the  age,  in  his 
celebrated  work  on  the  '  Rights  of  "War,'  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1582,  though  utterly  repudiating  their  doctrine  con- 
cerning tyrants  with  a  lawful  title,  cordially  embraced  it  in 
the  case  of  usurpers.*  The  French  Jesuits,  it  is  true,  appalled 
by  the  outcry  that  was  raised  against  them  on  account  of  the 
work  of  Mariana,  repudiated  its  principles;  but,  in  1611, 
Mariana  found  a  defender  in  another  Jesuit  named  Kcllerus,4 
Avlio  only  made  a  single  reservation — that  a  formal  sentence 
was  always  necessary  before  tyrannicide  was  justifiable. 

derc,  dum  alitcr  non  potest  liberari  respubliea  et  dum  spes  est  libcrtatis  proba- 
bilis. ;  alitcr  non  licet  private*  cuilibet  occiderc.  Alterum  administration!  (jui 
habct  quidera  vcrura  titulum  scd  tyranuice  tractat  subditos,  ct  hunc  uon  licet 
absque  publica  auctoritate  occidere.'  (Summa  Casuvm  Consciendcc,  lib.  v.  c. 
vi.  p.  Cd3.) 

1  '  Tyrannicc  frubernans  juste  acquisitum  dominium  non  potest  spoliari  sine 
publieo  judicio  ;  lata  vero  sententia  potcst  qui.squc fieri  executor:  potcst  autein 
drponi  a  populo  ctiani  qui  juravit  ei  obcdientiam  perpetuam  ?i  raonitus  nou 
vult  corritri.  At  occnpantcm  tyraunicc  potestatem  quisque  de  populo  potcst 
oeei'lere  si  aliud  non  sit  reincdiuin  est  oniin  pul.ilicus  luijti.-.'  (Aphorism.  L'r'n- 
fessarlorum,  vci'b.  Tyra/i/tits.} 

-  '  Tyrannmn  priino  nioiio  ncfa?  cst  ]irivatis  intcrficcrc  ;  jxi.-.-it  tarnon  rr-s- 
pul.ilica  quoad  capita  convcnire,  cique  rc.-i.~trrc,  lataqnc  st-ntentia  dqioncri'  ab 
adminbtrjtiono  atquo  ilium  drpo-ituin  jninire,  Sccundo  niodo  tyrannum  quivis 
•lc  ix-jiublica  jiot(.'~t  liciti.'  cum  ir,tcr!ic''rc.'  ((''///(//c  at.  Pars  IV.  tract,  iji 
•  lisi..  0.) 

'  '  Tyrannum  qui  per  vim  et  illc^iuine  principatum  occupavit,  si  tyraTinis 
»liter  tolli  non  po-.-it,  ocoidcn.1  cuili'.'ct  licitum  sit.1  (l>c  Jure  it  O^'n-'ils  !.(L'-citt 
lib.  5.) 

4  I;i  a  bonk  eallc'l  Tiirannicidiuin,  snt  Scitiu/t  CatJiolicornm  Jc  Tyra:;;:i 
fnta-tif'-'Ohc.  Thi~  book  (>hi<-h  was  written  in  rcjily  to  a  (_'alvini-tic  attack) 
contains,  a  preat  deal  of  infui-ination  about  tlic  early  literature  of  tyrannicide. 
It  bears  the  a]iprob,uio!i  <<[  \\\\~'\-\\-.  t!ie  hca.d  of  tin.-  Jt-uit-  in  Northern  '.icr- 
nianv. 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  161 

When  Henry  III.  was  assassinated  by  Clement,  the  Catholics 
of  the  League  received  the  news  with  a  burst  of  undisguised 
exultation,  and  in  many  churches  the  image  of  the  murderer 
was  placed  for  reverence  upon  the  altar  of  God.  The  Pope 
publicly  pronounced  the  act  to  be  worthy  of  ranking  with 
that  of  Judith;  he  said  that  it  could  only  have  been  accom- 
plished by  the  special  assistance  of  Providence,  and  he  blas- 
phemously compared  it  to  the  Incarnation  and  to  the  Resur- 
rection.1 On  the  other  hand,  it  would  be  unfair  to  forget  the 
murder  of  the  Duke  of  Guise  in  France  and  of  Cardinal 
Beaton  in  Scotland,  the  justification  of  these  instances  of 
political  assassination  by  the  most  eminent  Protestants,  and 
the  many  seditious  works  at  least  verging  upon  an  approval 
of  tyrannicide  that  issued  from  the  Protestant  press. 

Still  the  main  champions  of  tyrannicide  were  unquestion- 
ably the  Jesuits,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  discover  the  reason. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  despotic  character  of  their  govern- 
ment  has  in  these  later  times  proved  inimical  to  the  growth 
of  individuality  among  them,  and  that  while  the  institution 
considered  as  a  whole  has  flourished,  it  has  failed  remarkably 
to  produce  originality  either  in  intellect  or  in  character.9 
15ut  however  this  may  be  now,  it  is  certain  that  it  was  not 
so  in  the  early  days  of  the  society,  when  a  few  isolated 
Jesuits  were  scattered  through  a  community  of  heretics  wag- 
ing a  continued  war  against  overwhelming  numbers.  All 
the  resources  of  their  minds  were  then  taxed  to  the  utmost, 
and  they  had  every  motive  to  encourage  an  opinion  that  en- 
abled a  single  individual,  !>y  an  act  of  self-devotion,  to  sway 
the  destinies  of  a  nation. 


162  RATIONALISM   IX    EUROPE. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  work  of  Mariana  is  an  extreme  in. 
stance  of  Jesuitical  principles,  and  in  a  certain  sense  this  is 
undoubtedly  true.  Mariana  stands  almost  alone  among  his 
brethren  in  the  directness  and  absence  of  qualifications  that 
characterise  his  teaching,  and  he  is  still  more  remarkably 
distinguished  for  the  emphasis  with  which  he  dwells  upon 
purely  political  rights.  In  his  book  the  interests  of  the 
Church,  though  never  forgotten,  never  eclipse  or  exclude  the 
interests  of  the  people,  and  all  the  barriers  that  are  raised 
against  heresy  are  equally  raised  against  tyranny.  But  his 
doctrine  of  tyrannicide,  extreme,  exaggerated,  and  dangerous 
as  it  is,  was  but  a  rash  conclusion  from  certain  principles 
which  were  common  to  almost  all  the  theologians  of  his  order, 
and  which  are  of  the  most  vital  importance  in  the  history 
both  of  civil  liberty  and  of  Rationalism.  In  nearly  every 
writing  that  issued  from  this  school  we  find  the  same  desire 
to  restrict  the  power  of  the  sovereign  and  to  augment  the 
power  of  the  people,  the  same  determination  to  base  the  po- 
litical system  on  a  doctrine  derived  from  reason  rather  than 
from  authority,  the  same  tendency  to  enunciate  principles 
the  application  of  which  would — whether  their  authors  de- 
sired it  or  not — inevitably  extend  beyond  the  domain  of  the- 
ology. All  or  nearly  all  these  writers  urged  in  the  interests 
of  the  Church  that  doctrine  of  a  '  .-ocial  contract'  which  was 
destined  at  a  later  period  to  become  the  cornerstone  of  the 
liberties  of  Europe.  Nearly  all  drew  a  broad  distinction  be- 
«,\veen  kind's  and  tvrants;  nearly  all  divided  the  latter  into 
Ji'jse  who  were  tyrants,  as  it  was  said,  in  rerjiuiinc  (that  is 
to  say,  legitimate  rulers  who  misgoverned),  and  tyrants  in 
\ittd<>  (that  i.-  to  say,  rulers  with  no  original  authority)  ;  and 
ueiirly  all  admitted  that  the  Papal  deposition,  by  annulling 
the  title-deeds  of  regal  po\ver,  transferred  the  sovereign  from 


THE    SEOUL  AKISATION    OF    POLITICS. 

the  former  class  to  the  latter.  These  were  the  really  impor- 
tant points  of  their  teaching,  for  they  were  those  which  deep- 
ly and  permanently  influenced  the  habits  of  political  thought, 
and  on  these  points  the  Jesuits  were  almost  unanimous.  In 
the  application  of  them  they  differed.  Usually  tyrannicide, 
at  least  in  the  case  of  a  tyrant  in  regimine,  was  condemned, 
though,  as  we  have  seen,  there  were  not  wanting  those  who 
maintained  that  the  nation  as  well  as  the  Pope  might  depose 
a  sovereign,  might  condemn  him  to  death  and  depute  any  in- 
dividual to  slay  him.  In  the  case  of  a  tyrant  in  titulo  the 
more  violent  opinion  seems  to  have  predominated.  If  he 
was  a  conqueror  or  a  usurper,  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  had  dis- 
tinctly said  that  he  might  be  slain.1  If  he  was  a  monarch 
deposed  for  heresy,  it  was  remembered  that  heresy  itself 
might  justly  be  punished  with  death,  and  that  every  act  of 
the  deposed  sovereign  against  Catholicity  was  a  crime  of  the 
deepest  die  perpetrated  by  one  who  had  no  legitimate  au- 
thority in  the  State.  The  cloud  of  subtle  distinctions  that 
were  sometimes  raised  around  these  questions  might  give 
scope  for  the  ingenuity  of  controversialists,  but  they  could 
have  but  little  influence  over  the  passions  of  fanatics." 

If  we  now  turn  from  the  Jesuits  to  the  Gallican  section  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  the  contrast  is  very  remarkable.  We 
find  ourselves  in  presence  of  a  new  order  of  interests,  and 
consequently  of  new  principles.  The  irreat  power  of  the 


Loi  RATIONALISM  IN  EUROPE. 

French  Church  and  of  the  monarchy  with  which  it  was  con« 
nected  had  early  induced  its  bishops  to  assume  a  tone  of  in- 
dependence in  their  dealings  with  the  Papal  See  that  was 
elsewhere  unknown,  and  a  close  alliance  between  Church  and 
State  was  the  manifest  interest  of  both.  But  in  order  that 
such  an  alliance  should  be  effectual,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
Pope  should  be  reduced  as  much  as  possible  to  the  level  of 
an  ordinary  bishop,  while  the  sovereign  was  exalted  as  the 
immediate  representative  of  the  Deity.  In  this  way  the 
bishops  were  freed  from  the  pressure  of  Papal  ascendency, 
and  the  sovereign  from  the  worst  consequences  of  excommu- 
nication. The  advocates  of  Gallican  principles  have  been 
able  to  prove  decisively  that  in  nearly  all  attempts  to  pre- 
vent the  encroachments  of  the  Pope  upon  secular  dominion, 
French  theologians  have  been  prominent,  while  their  oppo- 
nents have  rejoined  with  equal  truth  that  the  Gallican  author- 
ities were  by  no  means  unanimous  in  their  sentiments,  and 
that  the  negation  of  the  Papal  claims  was  not  usually  thrown 
into  a  very  dogmatic  form.1  The  case  of  an  heretical  prince 
before  the  Reformation  was  hardly  discussed,'  and  in  other 
cases  the  rivalry  between  the  two  sections  of  the  Church  was 
rather  implied  in  acts  than  expressed  in  formal  statements. 
On  the  one  side  there  was  a  steady  tendency  to  exalt  the 
spiritual  power  of  the  Popes  above  that  of  the  Councils,  and 
their  temporal  power  above  that  of  kings  ;  on  the  other  side 
there  was  a  corresponding  tendency  in  the  opposite  direction. 


Set-  on  the  one 

IleffHXl'i  Of   Bo.-.-iICt. 

•  Aceoi-'liii'_r  to  Bi:uiehi,  the  fh>t  Catholic  who  i:iaiiitaine<l  that  the  Pope 
lu'd  no  power  OVIT  the  temporal  po.~sc~.-ion:;  of  princes  who  fell  into  here.sv 
v. a.s  an  Knurli.-hman  of  tin;  time  of  James  I. — William  Barclay,  the  father  of 
tl.e  author  of  the  A r<j> /< in.  W.  Barclay  wrote  against  and  wa.~  j ins-new.]  bj 
I'tHai'Loine.  (Uiaiichi,  torn,  ii.  pp.  708,  TOO.) 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  165 

As  the  power  of  deposition  was  in  the  middle  ages  the  centre 
of  the  more  liberal  system  of  politics,  and  as  everything  that 
was  taken  from  the  popes  was  given  to  the  kings,  the  Gallican 
system  was  always  inimical  to  freedom.  At  the  same  time, 
as  the  interference  of  an  Italian  priest  with  French  politic* 
offended  the  national  pride,  it  was  eminently  popular;  and 
tl  us,  as  in  many  subsequent  periods  of  French  history,  pa- 
triotism proved  destructive  to  liberty. 

It  appeared  for  a  short  time  as  if  the  Reformation  were 
about  to  give  rise  to  new  combinations.  The  invectives  of 
the  Protestants  against  the  Papal  Power  produced  a  mo- 
mentary reaction  in  its  favour,  which  was  remarkably  shown 
in  the  States  General  assembled  at  Paris  in  1615.  The  Third 
Estate,  cither  because  Protestant  principles  were  diffused 
among  its  members  or  because  it  represented  especially  the 
secular  feelings  of  the  middle  classes,  then  proposed,  among 
Dther  articles,  one  declaring  that  the  Pope  possessed  no 
power  of  deposing  sovereigns,  or  under  any  circumstances 
releasing  subjects  from  the  oath  of  allegiance;  but  the 
nobles  and  the  clergy  refused  to  ratify  it,  and  Cardinal 
Perron,  probably  as  the  representative  of  the  clergy,  asserted 
the  Ultramontane  principles  with  the  strongest  emphasis.1 

Very  soon,  however,  a  complete  change  passed  over  the 
minds  of  the  French  clergy.  The  Huguenots,  in  several  of 
their  synods,  had  dwelt  with  great  emphasis  upon  their 
denial  of  the  existence  of  a  mediate  power  between  the  Deity 
fvnd  a  kintr,  and  there  was  some  danger  that  if  they  possessed 
'l*e  monopoly  of  this  opinion  the  civil  power  mii/ht  be 
attracted  to  their  side.  I'M -Mcs  this,  the  French  Protestant-. 
made  war  against  their  rulers  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
liliertv  of  conscience,  and  the  French  Catholics  natnrallv 


166  KATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

pronounced  these  wars  to  be  sinful.  In  1668  the  Sorbonne 
asserted  the  absolute  independence  of  the  civil  power,  and 
the  same  thing  was  again  declared  in  the  famous  Articles  of 
1682,  which  are  the  recognised  bases  of  Gallicanism.  In  his 
defence  of  these  articles  Bossuet  soon  afterwards  systematisecl 
(ho  whole  theology  of  the  school.  The  general  result,  as  liu 
as  it  regards  civil  liberty,  may  be  briefly  told.  The  king 
occupied  his  throne  by  the  direct  and  immediate  authority  of 
the  Deity,  and  is  consequently,  in  his  temporal  capacity,  alto- 
gether independent  both  of  the  Pope  and  of  the  wishes  of 
the  people.  Every  pope  who  had  exercised  or  claimed  a 
power  of  deposition  had  exceeded  his  functions  and  been 
guilty  of  usurpation  ;  every  subject  who  had  raised  his  hand 
against  the  sovereign  or  his  agents  had  committed  a  mortal 
Bin.  The  sole  duty  of  the  nation  is  to  obey,  and  from  this 
obligation  no  tyranny  and  no  injustice  can  release  it.  If  the 
rulers  of  the  people  are  as  wolves,  it  is  for  the  Christians  to 
show  themselves  as  sheep.1 

Such  was  the  teaching  of  the  different  sections  of  trie- 
Catholic  Church.  If  we  now  turn  to  Protestanism,  we  find  a 
diversity  at  least  equally  striking  and  not  less  manifestly  due 
to  the  diversity  of  interests.  At  the  same  time,  although  the 
opinions  advocated  by  any  particular  section  at  a  particular 
time  were  mainly  the  result  of  the  special  circumstances 
under  which  it  was  placed,  there  Avere  some  general  consid- 
erations that  complicated  the  movement.  In  the  first  place, 
the  fact  that  the  lieformation  was  essentia  ly  an  act  of 
Fpiiitu:d  rebellion — an  appeal  from  those  in  authority  to  the 
judgments  of  the  pooph — ^rave  an  impulse  to  the  spirit  of 
insubordination  which  was  still  further  strenthened  b  the 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  167 

republican  form  that  many  of  the  new  organisations  assumed. 
In  the  Early  Church  the  ecclesiastical  government  had  com- 
bined iii  a  very  remarkable  manner  the  principle  of  authority 
and  the  principle  of  liberty,  by  magnifying  to  the  highest 
point  the  episcopal  authority,  while  the  bishops  were  them- 
selves elected  by  universal  suffrage.  But  a  process  of  gradual 
centralisation  soon  destroyed  this  balance,  and  transformed 
the  ecclesiastical  organisation  from  a  republic  into  a  mon- 
archy; and  although  the  primitive  elements  were  revived  in 
Protestantism,  they  were  revived  in  such  a  way  that  their 
original  character  was  essentially  falsified.  For  the  system 
of  popular  election  and  the  supreme  and  divine  authority  of 
the  episcopacy,  which  in  the  Early  Church  formed  the  two 
compensatory  parts  of  a  single  scheme,  at  the  Reformation 
were  violently  dissevered  and  thrown  into  the  strongest 
antagonism — the  Calvinistic  churches  constituting  themselves 
the  leading  champions  of  the  one,  while  Anglicanism  was  the 
representative  of  the  other. 

Xow  il  has  often  been  observed,  and  is  in  itself  sufficient- 
ly obvious,  that  when  men  have  formed  an  ecclesiastical 
organisation  which  is  intensely  democratic,  they  will  have  a 
certain  predisposition  in  favour  of  a  political  organisation  of 
a  kind  red  nature.  It'  in  Church  government  they  are  accus- 
tomed to  restrict  very  jealously  the  influence  of  the  ruler,  to 
diffuse  as  much  as  possible  the  supreme  power,  and  to  regard 
the  will  of  the  majority  as  the  basis  of  authority,  they  will 
scarcely  submit  without  a  murmur  to  a  political  system  in 
which  all  power  is  centralised  in  a  single  man.  and  from 
which  all  popular  influence  has  been  carefully  eliminated. 
Puritanism  lias  therefore  a  natural  bias  towards  democracy. 
and  Episcopalianism,  which  dwells  chiefly  on  the  principle  of 
authority,  towards  despotism.  Special  circumstances  hav. 


1.68  RATIONALISM   IX   EUKOPE. 

occasionally  modified  but  seldom  or  never  altogether  reversed 
these  tendencies.  Both  forms  have  sometimes  coalesced 
cordially  with  constitutional  monarchy  ;  but  even  in  these 
cases  it  will  usually  be  found  that  the  Puritans  have  gravi- 
tated towards  that  party  which  verges  most  upon  repub- 
licanism, and  the  Episcopalians  to  that  which  is  most  akin  to 
despotism. 

Another  general  tendency  which  has  been  much  less  fre- 
quently noticed  than  the  preceding  one  results  from  the  pro- 
portionate value  attached  by  different  Churches  to  the  Old 
and  Xew  Testaments.  To  ascertain  the  true  meaning  of 
passages  of  Scripture  is  the  business  not  of  the  historian  but 
of  the  theologian,  but  it  is  at  least  an  historical  fact  that  in 
the  great  majority  of  instances  the  early  Protestant  defenders 
of  civil  liberty  derived  their  political  principles  chiefly  from 
the  Old  Testament,  and  the  defenders  of  despotism  from  the 
Xew.  The  rebellions  that  were  so  frequent  in  Jewish  history 
formed  the  favourite  topic  of  the  one — the  unreserved  sub- 
mission inculcated  by  St.  Paul,  of  the  other.  When,  there- 
fore, all  the  principles  of  right  and  wrong  were  derived  from 
theology,  and  when  by  the  rejection  of  tradition  and  eccle- 
siastical authority  Scripture  became  the  sole  arbiter  of  theo- 
logical difliculties.  it  was  a  matter  of  manifest  importance  iu 
ascertaining  the  political  tendencies  of  any  sect  to  discover 
\vhich  Testament  was  most  congenial  to  the  tone  and  com- 
plexion of  its  theology.1 

The  favourable  influence  Protestantism  was  destined  to 
'.-xerci>e  upon  liberty  was  early  shown.  Among  the-  accusa- 
t'  uis  the  Catholics  brought  acrainst  ITuss  and  Wyclifl'e,  none 
was  more  common  than  that  they  had  proclaimed  that  mortal 
sin  invalidated  the  title  of  the  sovereign  to  his  throne;  and 

1   Ilulhun.  ll'ixt.   -jf  Lit 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS. 

the  last  of  these  Reformers  was  also  honourably  distinguished 
for  his  strong  assertion  of  the  unchristian  character  of  slavery.1 
At  the  Reformation  the  different  attitudes  assumed  by  different 
sovereigns  towards  the  new  faith  and  the  constant  vicissitudes 
of  the  religious  wars  exercised  their  natural  influence  upon 
the  opinions  of  the  leaders;  but  on  the  whole,  liberal  views 
strongly  predominated,  although  they  were  not  often  thrown 
into  formal  statements.  Luther  and  Calvin  both  fluctuated 
a  good  deal  upon  the  subject,  and  passages  have  been  cited 
from  each  by  the  adherents  of  both  views.  It  is  probable, 
nowcver,  that  Calvin  ultimately  inclined  rather  to  the  repub- 
lican, and  Luther — who  had  been  greatly  agitated  by  the 
war  of  the  peasants — to  the  despotic  theory.  Zuinglius, 
without  reasoning  much  on  the  subject,2  accepted  the  liberal 
principles  of  his  countrymen,  and  he  died  bravely  upon  the 
battle-field.  L'lrich  von  Hutten  appears  to  have  adopted  the 
Reformed  tenets  mainly  as  a  principle  of  liberty,  emancipat- 
ing men  both  from  intellectual  and  from  political  tyranny, 
'From  truth  to  liberty  and  from  liberty  to  truth'  was  the 
programme  lie  proclaimed.  The  country,  however,  in  which 
Protestantism  assumed  the  most  emphatically  liberal  charac- 
ter was  unquestionably  Scotland,  and  the  man  who  must 
clearly  represented  its  tendency  was  Xnox. 

A  great  writer,  whose  untimely  death  has  been  one  of  the 
most  serious  misfortunes  that  have  ever  befallen  Knoflish 
literature,  and  whose  splendid  irenius.  matured  by  the  most 
vnried  and  extensive  scholarship,  lias  ca>t  a  Hood  of  liirht 
ipnn  many  of  the  subjects  T  am  endeavouring  to  elucidate— 
has  latch*  traced  with  a  m;i:*ter-liand  the  antecedents  of  the 


170  RATIONALISM    US'   EUROPE. 

Scotch  Reformation.'  He  has  shown  that  for  a  long  period 
before  it  was  accomplished  there  had  been  a  fierce  contest 
between  the  aristocracy  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  sovereigns 
and  Catholic  clergy  of  Scotland  upon  the  other;  that  this 
struggle  at  last  terminated  in  the  triumph  of  the  aristocracy 
and  the  subversion  of  the  Catholic  establishment ;  that  tho 
new  clergy,  called  into  existence  by  a  movement  that  was  in- 
tensely hostile  to  the  sovereign,  were  from  the  first  the  main 
promoters  of  sedition  ;  and  that  being  hated  by  the  Crown, 
and  having  speedily  quarrelled  with  the  nobles,  they  cast 
themselves  for  support  upon  the  people,  and  became  the  most 
courageous  and  energetic  of  the  champions  of  democracy. 
The  utter  contempt  for  ecclesiastical  traditions  that  charac- 
terised the  Puritanical  sects  enabled  them  without  much  dif- 
ficulty to  mould  their  theology  into  conformity  with  their 
wishes ;  for  Scripture  was  the  only  guide  they  acknowledged, 
and  it  has  been  most  abundantly  proved  that  from  Scripture 
honest  and  able  men  have  derived  and  do  derive  arguments 
in  support  of  the  most  opposite  opinions.  In  all  the  conflicts 
witli  the  civil  authorities  Knox  threw  himself  into  the  fore- 
ground, and  constantly  asserted,  with  the  most  emphatic 
clearness,  that  it  was  the  right  and  even  the  duty  of  a  nation 
l,o  resist  a  persecuting  sovereign.  Speaking  of  the  persecu- 
tions that  Mary  had  directed  against  the  English  Protestants, 
he  declared  that  when  they  began  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
Kngli-h  people  not  merely  to  have  deposed  their  queen,  but 
also  to  liaA*e  put  her  to  death;  and  he  added,  with  character- 
istic- ferocity,  that  they  should  have  included  in  the  same 
slaughter  nil  IHT  councillors  and  the  whole  body  of  the 
Catholic  clerirv.8 


THE   SECULAEISATlO-tf   OF    POLITICS.  17) 

The  opinions  which  Kiiox  embodied  chiefly  in  fierce  de« 
jlamations,  and  which  he  advocated  mainly  with  a  view  to 
religious  interests,  were  soon  after  systernatised  and  at  the 
same  time  secularised  hy  Buchanan  in  a  short  dialogue  en- 
titled '  De  Jure  Regni  apud  Scotos,'  which  was  published  in 
1579,  and  which  bears  in  many  respects  a  striking  resem 
blance  to  some  of  the  writings  that  afterwards  issued  from 
the  Jesuits.  In  Buchanan,  however,  we  find  none  of  those 
countless  subtleties  and  qualifications  to  which  the  Catholic 
theologians  commonly  resorted  in  order  to  evade  the  deci- 
sions of  the  Fathers  or  the  schoolmen,  nor  do  we  find  any- 
thing about  the  deposing  power  of  the  Pope.  The  principles 
that  were  enunciated  were  perfectly  clear  and  decisive:  they 
were  derived  exclusively  from  reason,  and  they  were  directed 
equally  against  every  form  of  tyranny.  The  argument  is 
based  upon  '  the  social  contract.'  Men  were  naturally  form- 
ed for  society:  in  order  to  arrest  the  intestine  discord  that 
sprang  up  among  them,  they  created  kings ;  in  order  to  re- 
strain the  power  of  their  kings,  they  enacted  laws.  The  na- 
tion being  the  source  of  regal  power  is  greater  than  and  may 
therefore  judge  the  king  ;  the  laws  being  intended  to  restrain 
the  king  in  case  of  collision,  it  is  for  the  people  and  not  for 
the  ruler  to  interpret  them.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  king  to 
identity  himself  with  the  law,1  and  to  govern  exclusively  ac- 
cording to  its  decisions.  A  king  is  one  who  governs  bv  law, 
and  according  to  the  interests  of  the  people;  a  tyrant  is  one 

it;e,  judges,  rulers,  and  people  of  Krr/iand,  not  only  to  have  iv-istcd  ut.'l  amii:i- 
'landed  Mario,  that  Jc.--ain.-l  whoine  they  enil  their  queen,  but  also  to  have 
punished  her  to  the  death,  with  all  the  sort  of  hor  idolatrous  preestes,  together 
with  all  such  as  should  have  assisted  her  what  tyme  that  slice  and  tliev  openlv 
btirau  to  Mippresse  Christe.s  iivandl,  to  shed  the  blood  of  the  saincts  of  dod, 
and  to  erect  th.it  most  devillish  idolatrie,  the  Papistical  abominations.'  (Knox, 


172  KAflONALISH   IN   EUEOPE. 

who  governs  by  his  own  will,  and  contrary  to  the  interests 
of  the  people.  An  opinion  had  been  spread  abroad  by  some 
that  a  king  being  trammelled  by  recognised  constitutional  ties 
might  be  resisted  if  he  violated  them,  but  that  a  tyrant  who 
reigns  where  no  constitution  exists  must  be  always  obeyed; 
but  this  opinion  was  altogether  false.  The  people  may  make 
war  against  a  tyrant,  and  may  pursue  that  war  until  he  is 
slain.  Thoiigh  Buchanan  docs  not  expressly  defend  the 
slaughter  of  a  tyrant  by  a  private  individual,  he  recalls  in 
language  of  unqualified  praise  the  memories  of  the  tyranni- 
cides of  antiquity. 

This  little  tract,  being  in  conformity  with  the  spirit  of  the 
time,  and  especially  with  the  spirit  of  the  Scotch  people,  had 
a  very  great  influence.  Its  main  principles,  as  we  bave  seen, 
differ  but  little  from  those  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  and  the 
schoolmen;  but  by  disengaging  them  from  the  crowd  of 
theological  considerations  that  had  previously  rendered  them 
almost  inoperative  except  when  religious  interests  were  con- 
cerned, Buchanan  opened  a  new  stage  in  the  history  of  liber- 
ty. The  doctrines,  however,  which  he  for  the  first  time  sys- 
tematised  had  been  at  a  still  earlier  period  diffused  among 
his  fellow-countrymen.  AVlien  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  1571,  put 
some  questions  to  a  Scutch  deputation  concerning  the  reasons 
that  had  induced  the  Scots  to  depose  their  queen,  she  was 
immediately  favoured  in  reply  with  a  long  dissertation  on  the 
manifest  superiority  of  nations  to  their  sovereigns;  which,  as 
I  'amden  assures  us,  and  as  we  can  readily  believe,  she  re- 
ceived with  extreme  indignation.1  The  same  principles  were 
no  less  general  among  the  English  Dissenters,  and  were  ex- 
hibited alike  in  their  writings  and  in  their  policy:  31ilton 


VIIE   SECULARISATION   OF    rOLITICS.  173 

only  translated  into  eloquent  prose  the  no  less  eloquent  acts 
of  Cromwell. 

It  is  difficult  indeed  to  overrate  tlie  debt  of  gratitude  that 
England  owes  both  to  her  own  Nonepiscopal  Churches  and 
to  those  of  Scotland.  In  good  report  and  in  evil,  amid  per- 
secution and  ingratitude  and  horrible  wrongs,  in  ages  when 
all  virtue  seemed  corroded  and  when  apostasy  had  ceased  to 
be  a  stain,  they  clung  fearlessly  and  faithfully  to  the  banner 
of  IILP  freedom.  If  the  Great  Rebellion  was  in  England  for 
the  most  part  secular  in  its  causes,  it  is  no  less  true  that  its 
success  was  in  a  great  measure  due  to  the  assistance  of  the 
Scotch,  who  were  actuated  mainly  by  religion,  to  the  heroic 
courage  infused  into  the  troops  by  the  English  ministers,  and 
to  the  spirit  of  enthusiasm  created  by  the  noble  writings  that 
were  inspired  by  Puritanism.  Xeither  the  persecutions  of 
Charles  nor  the  promised  toleration  of  James  ever  caused 
them  to  swerve.  Without  their  assistance  English  liberty 
would  no  doubt  have  been  attained,  but  no  one  can  sav  how 
long  its  triumph  would  have  been  retarded,  or  what  catas- 
trophes would  have  resulted  from  the  strife.  For  it  is  to 
Puritanism  that  we  mainly  owe  the  fact  that  in  England  re- 
ligion and  liberty  were  not  dissevired:  amid  all  the  fluctua- 
tions of  its  fortune,1  it  represented  the  alliance  of  these  two 
principles,  which  the  predominating  Church  invariably  pro- 
nounced to  be  incompatible. 

The  attitude  of  this  latter  Church  forms  indeed  a  strange 
contrast  to  that  of  Puritanism.  Created  in  the  first  instance 
by  a  court  intrigue,  pervadi-d  in  all  its  parts  by  a  spirit  of 
die  most  intense  Erastiani^ni,  and  aspiring  at  the  same  time 


EAIMXALISII   IX   EUEOPE.     ' 

to  a  spiritual  authority  scarcely  less  absolute  than  that  of  the 
Church  which  it  had  superseded,  Anglicanism  was  from  the 
beginning  at  once  the  most  servile  and  the  most  efficient 
agent  of  tyranny.  Endeavouring  by  the  assistance  of  tern- 
poral  authority  and  by  the  display  of  worldly  pomp  to  real- 
ise in  England  the  same  position  as  Catholicism  had  occu- 
pied in  Europe,  she  naturally  flung  herself  on  every  occasion 
into  the  arms  of  the  civil  power.  Xo  other  Church  so  uni- 
formly betrayed  and  trampled  on  the  liberties  of  her  coun- 
try.1 In  all  those  fiery  trials  through  which  English  liberty 
has  passed  since  the  Reformation,  she  invariably  cast  her 
influence  into  the  scale  of  tyranny,  supported  and  eulogised 
every  attempt  to  violate  the  Constitution,  and  wrote  the 
fearful  sentence  of  eternal  condemnation  upon  the  tornbs  of 
the  martyrs  of  freedom."  That  no  tyranny  however  gross, 
that  no  violation  of  the  constitution  however  flagrant,  can 
justify  resistance  ;  that,  all  those  principles  concerning  the 
rights  of  nations  on  winch  constitutional  government  is 

1  As  .Macaulay  very  truly  ami  very  oloqnently  wrote,  'The  Church  of  Enjr- 
lanil  continued  to  be  for  more  than  150  years  the  servile  handmaid  of  mon- 
archy, the  steady  enemy  of  public  liberty.  The  divine  riidit  of  kin,!_s  and  the 
umy  of  pa--iv<  ]y  o'n.yLiL'  all  their  commands,  v.eic  her  favourite  tenets.  She 
hell  those  tenets  firmly  throuirh  tnivs  of  oppression,  persecution,  and  licen- 
tiousness, while  inw  was  trampled  down,  whil>-  judgment  was  perverted,  while 
the  people  were  eaten  as  tho'ie'i  thc-y  were  I/re.;  i.  Once,  and  but  once — for  a 
moment,  and  but  for  n  moment — vvh.'n  her  ov,  n  dignity  and  property  were 
touched,  slic  forgot  to  practise  the  submission  she  had  taULdit.'  ( /:~v.sv; //*,  vul 
i.  p.  00,  ed.  18.;i.)  IFallam,  however,  has  disinterred  a  curious  book  called 
A  .i:-!<r,rl  Trf.illxr  r,f  PnUliq >IF.  Fnirfr,  piilili.-lied  by  I'oy;iet,  1'i-otestant  liishoj. 
(f  \\":i:che-tM'.  in  1.")."^,  advocati'i'^  the  mo-t  se'iition<  doctrine-,  and  ann-n^ 
Lti,"i'S  tyr;in:,ici  ]e.  ]!Mt  the  e.xjilanation  is  siirjj'li,' :  I'ojaiet  wrote  d'ir'ni'j;  'he 
[.ci.-.riiti'.n  (.f  Mary.  :  7/,X  f>j  L'L,  v.l.  ii.  pp.  37-10.) 

:  'Kti.  rnd  ilaii;;;aii"n  i-  prepared  foi-  all  impeiiiti-nt  re'"-l~  in  ln-11  v/ith 
LSitan  tlie  fn.-t  foinnle;- of  reoeilion.'  '][.  aveii  is  the  place  of  -jood  ol.edii.nt 
subjects,  ;ind  hell  the  rii-ua  an!  dungeon  of  rebels  against  G»rl  and  their 
prince.  (Iloirnly  on  WtlfulIii.belU.nn,) 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  175 

based  are  false,  and  all  those  efforts  of  resistance  by  winch 
constitutional  government  is  achieved  are  deadly  sins,  was 
her  emphatic  and  continual  teaching.  '  A  rebel,'  she  declared, 
'is  worse  than  the  worst  prince,  and  rebellion  worse  than 
the  worst  government  of  the  worst  prince  hath  hitherto 
been.'  '  God  placeth  as  well  evil  princes  as  good,'  and 
therefore  'for  subjects  to  deserve  through  their  sins  to  have 
an  evil  prince  and  then  to  rebel  against  him  were  double  and 
treble  evil  by  provoking  God  more  to  plague  them.'  St. 
Paul  counselled  passive  obedience  under  Caligula,  Claudius, 
and  Xero,  '  who  were  not  only  no  Christians  but  pagans,  and 
also  either  foolish  rulers  or  cruel  tyrants  ;'  nay  the  Jews  owed 
it  even  to  Xebuchadnezzar,  when  '  he  had  slain  their  king, 
nobles,  parents,  children,  and  kinsfolk,  burned  their  country 
cities,  yea  Jerusalem  itself,  and  the  holy  temple,  and  had 
carried  the  residue  into  captivity.'  Even  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
'being  of  the  royal  blood  of  the  ancient  natural  kings  of 
Jewry,  did  not  disdain  to  obey  the  commandment  of  an  hea- 
then and  foreign  prince;'  much  more  therefore  should  we 
'obey  princes,  though  strangers,  wicked,  and  wrongful,  when 
God  for  our  sins  shall  place  such  over  us,'  unless,  indeed,  they 
enjoin  anything  contrary  to  the  Divine  command ;  but  even 
'in  that  case  we  may  not  in  anywise  withstand  violently  or 
rebel  against  rulers,  or  make  any  insurrection,  sedition,  or 
tumults,  either  by  force  of  arms  or  otherwise,  ncrainst  the 
anointed  of  the  Lord  or  any  of  his  officers,  but  we  must  in 
Bucli  case  patiently  suifer  all  wrongs.'  ' 

'  If  I  should  determine  no   crises,'   wrote  Jeremy  Taylor, 

II,ipi!ie~  or  l!'.7/'"7  rltljiV'".-r,  and  on  OWtcnce.  The  ?ame  doctrine* 
were  laid  down  in  tin-  Cahons  of  Convoe.'iion  in  lt'>"u,  mid  Ky  the  Univer-if  y 
of  Oxford  in  10:22,  when  c'cn-iiriiiu'  a  pn-nel.er  namod  Knight.  \vho  had  said 
that  subjects  oppressed  on  account  of  ivlLiuii  might  sometimes  resist.  (lial- 
lain,  Conit  //is/.,  vol  i.  p.  4  !.">.) 


176  RATIONALISM   INT    EUROPE. 

when  treating  the  question  of  resistance  in  the  greatest  work 
on  Moral  Philosophy  that  Anglicanism  has  produced,  '  but 
upon  such  mighty  terms  as  can  be  afforded  in  this  question, 
and  are  given  and  yet  prevail  not,  I  must  never  hope  to  do 
any  service  to  any  interest  of  wisdom  01  peace,  of  justice  01 
religion ;  and  therefore  I  am  clearly  of  opinion  that  no  man 
who  can  think  it  lawful  to  fight  against  the  supreme  power 
of  his  nation  can  be  fit  to  read  cases  of  conscience,  for  noth- 
ing can  satisfy  him  whose  conscience  is  armour  of  proof 
against  the  plain  and  easy  demonstration  of  this  question. 
The  matter  of  Scripture  being  so  plain  that  it  needs 
no  interpretation,  the  practice  and  doctrine  of  the  Church, 
Avhich  is  usually  the  best  commentary,  is  now  but  of  little 
use  in  a  case  so  plain ;  yet  this  also  is  as  plain  in  itself,  and 
without  any  variety,  dissent,  or  interruption  universally 
agreed  upon,  universally  practised  and  taught,  that,  let  the 
powers  set  over  us  be  what  they  will,  we  must  suffer  it  and 
never  right  ourselves.'  l 

The  teaching  of  which  these  extracts  are  examples  was 
constantly  maintained  by  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
Anglican  clergy  for  the  space  of  more  than  150  years,  and 
during  the  mo.-t  critical  periods  of  the  history  of  the  English 
Constitution.  When  Charles  I.  attempted  to  convert  the 
monarchy  into  a  despotism,  the-  English  Church  gave  him  its 
constant  and  enthusiastic  support.  When,  in  the  gloomy 
period  of  vice  and  of  reaction  that  followed  the  Restoration, 
the  current  of  opinion  set  in  against  all  liberal  opinions,  and 
the  maxims  of  despotism  were  embodied  even  in  the  Oath  of 

1  Ifiirtor  7>"7,i'/,/, ,/;>/„,,  h'l>.  iii.  cvp.  iii.  IV lir-r.  uho  wa-  perliap-  still 
more  er.mpete.Mt  than  Ta'.lor  to  expn  -s  tin.-  sentiments  (if  tin;  Father.-,  \va>  at 
least  equally  emphatic.  S.->;  KlrinL'tonV  Life  of  L'mt/icr,  vol.  i.  p.  iJG!i.  Jierke- 
)ey  made  an  iii'-Ternou.-;  attempt  to  -how  that  pa-.-ive  oliediener  v.'a-  ordained  bv 
thtj  law  of  nature:  -ee  hi-;  Ijis,<-<>nm_  on  /Vvs/'jy  f)l,fdicnL-t. 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS. 

Allegiance,1  the  Church  of  England  directed  the  stream, 
allied  herself  in  the  closest  union  with  a  court  whose  vices 
were  the  scandal  of  Christendom,  and  exhausted  her  anathe- 
mas not  upon  the  hideous  corruption  that  surrounded  her,  but 
upon  the  principles  of  Hampdeii  and  of  Milton.  All  through 
the  long  series  of  encroachments  of  the  Stuarts  she  exhibited 
the  same  spirit.  The  very  year  when  Russell  died  was 
selected  by  the  University  of  Oxford  to  condemn  the  writings 
of  Buchanan,  Baxter,  and  Milton,  and  to  proclaim  the  duty 
of  passive  obedience  in  a  decree  which,  the  House  of  Lords 
Boon  afterwards  committed  to  the  flames.2  It  was  not  till 
James  had  menaced  her  supremacy  that  the  Church  was 
aroused  to  resistance.  Then  indeed,  for  a  brief  but  memora- 
ble period,  she  placed  herself  in  opposition  to  the  Crown,  and 
contributed  largely  to  one  of  the  most  glorious  events  in 
English  historv.  But  no  sooner  had  William  mounted  the 

~  */ 

throne  than  her  policy  was  reversed,  her  whole  energies  were 
directed  to  the  subversion  of  the  constitutional  liberty  that 
was  then  {irmly  established,  and  it  is  recorded  by  the  great 
historian  of  the  Revolution  that  at  least  nine-tenths  of  the 
olerii'y  were  opposed  to  the  emancipator  of  England.  All 
through  the  reaction  under  Queen  Anne,  all  through  the  still 
worse  read  ion  under  George  III.,  the  same  spirit  was  dis- 
i)laved.  In  the  lirst  r>eriod  the  clergv.  in  their  hatred  of 

i.          »  J-  -     »    ? 

liberty,  followed  cordially  the  leadership  of  the  infidel  Boling- 
broke  ;  in  the  second  they  were  the  most  ardent  supporters 

1  In  tlii?  cl.iu.~c  that  it  was  not  lawful  'on  any  pretence  whatever  to  take 
•it.  ^rms  against  the  kinir.'  This  clause  was  expunged  at  the  Devolution 
UUlev's  Z/M-C.  of  ru>>/«l  Prcrofjoticc  ui  England,  p.  89).  Magna  Charta  had 
declared  that  kings  who  violated  it  might  l>c  resisted. 

a  This  decree  is  given  in  full  in  Wodrow's  Jlist.  of  Church  of  Sen/land, 
vo1.  iii.  p.  506.  See.  on  this  whole  subject,  Hallani,  Const.  Hist.,  vol  ii.  pp 
43y— it) 5  (ed.  1S54). 


178  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

of  the  wars  against  America  and  against  the  French  Revolu 
tion,  which  have  been  the  most  disastrous  in  which  England 
has  ever  engaged.  From  first  to  last  their  conduct  was  the 
same,  and  every  triumph  of  liberty  was  their  defeat. 

There  are  contrasts  that  meet  us  in  the  history  of  Ration- 
alism which  it  is  impossible  to  realise  without  positive  amaze- 
ment. When  we  remember  for  how  long  a  period  the  Church 
of  England  maintained  that  resistance  to  the  regal  power 
was  in  all  cases  a  deadly  sin,  and  that  such  men  as  a  Wash- 
ington or  a  Garibaldi  were  doomed  '  to  burn  together  in  hell 
with  Satan  the  first  founder  of  rebellion,'  it  is  hard  to  say 
whether  the  present  condition  of  English  public  opinion 
shows  most  clearly  the  impotence  of  the  theologians  who 
were  unable  to  prevent  so  absolute  a  rejection  of  their  prin- 
ciples, or  the  elasticity  of  the  Church  that  has  survived  it. 

Although,  however,  the  general  current  of  Anglican 
ecclesiastical  opinion  was  on  this  subject  extremely  steady, 
there  was  one  divine  who  forms  a  marked  exception,  and  that 
divine  was  probably  the.  ablest  that  Protestantism  lias  ever 
produced.  Hooker — not  indeed  the  greatest  but  perhaps  the 
most  majestic  of  English  writers — was  not  more  distinguished 
for  his  splendid  eloquence  than  for  his  tendency  to  elevate  the 
principles  of  natural  ri^ht,  and  for  his  desire  to  make  the 
Church  independent  of  the  Slate.  In  his  discussions  of  the 
nat.ure  of  the  civil  power  both  of  these  characteristics  are 
Htrikingly  shown.  In  examining  the  true  origin  and  func- 
tions of  government  lie  scarcely  ever  appeals  to  the  decisions 
of  the  Fathers,  and  not  often  to  the  teachings  of  Scripture, 
1  -at  elaborates  his  theory  from  his  o\vn  reason,  aided  by  the 
great  philosophers  of  antiquity.  His  doctrine  in  its  essential 
parts  diilers  little  from  t'.at  of  Buchanan.  Individuals  join- 
ing together  in  societies  created  kings  to  govern  them.  The 


THE    SECULAKISATION   OF   POLITICS.  179 

regal  power  was  at  first  absolute,  Ibut  soon  '  men  saw  that  to 
live  by  one  man's  will  became  the  cause  of  all  men's  misery, 
and  this  constrained  them  to  come  into  laws  wherein  all  men 
might  see  their  duty.' l  Although  the  king  received  his  au- 
thority from  the  people  in  the  first  instance,  it  was  not  on 
that  account  the  less  sacred,  for  '  on  whom  the  same  is  be- 
stowed even  at  men's  discretion  they  likewise  do  hold  it  of 
Divine  right.'  At  the  same  time  the  king  was  subject  to  the 
lasv,  and  as  the  power  of  enacting  laws  resides  with  the 
whole  people,  any  attempt  upon  his  part  to  enact  laws  con- 
trary to  the  will  of  the  people  is  a  tyranny.  Such  laws  are, 
in  fact,  a  nullity.2 

From  these  principles  we  should  naturally  have  supposed 
that  Hooker  would  have  drawn  the  conclusion  of  Buchanan, 
and  would  have  maintained  that  the  will  of  the  people,  is  a 
sufficient  reason  for  changing  the  government.  It  is,  how- 
ever, an  extremely  remarkable  fact  as  showing  the  spirit  of 
the  class  to  which  he  belonged  that  this  great  writer,  who 
had  exhibited  so  clearly  the  fundamental  propositions  of  mod- 
ern liberalism,  who  had  emancipated  himself  to  so  great  a 
degree  from  the  prejudices  of  his  profession,  and  who  wrote 
with  the  strongest  and  most  manifest  bias  in  favour  of  free- 
dom, shrank  to  the  last  from  this  conclusion.  He  desired  to 
see  the  power  of  the  government  greatly  restricted  ;  he  eulo- 
gised constitutional  government  as  immeasurably  superior  to 

1  Ecd.  F'>L,  lib.  i.  sec.  in. 

'  '  Thn  lawful  power  of  milking  laws  to  command  whole  political  societies 
){  men  belonging  so  properly  unto  the  same  entire  societies,  that  for  any 
prince  or  potentate,  of  what  kind  soever,  upon  earth  to  exercise  the  same  of 
bimself  and  not  by  express  commission  immediately  and  personally  received 
from  (!od,  or  else  from  authority  derived  at  the  first  from  their  consent  upon 
whose  persons  they  impose  laws,  it  is  no  better  than  mere  tyranny.  Laws 
they  are  not  therefore  which  public,  approbation  hath  not  made  so.'  (Eccl 
I'"!.,  lib.  .  sec.  10.) 


1-80  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

despotism ;  he  even  thought  that  the  violation  of  a  constitu- 
tional tie  was  a  just  cause  for  resistance,  but  when  he  came 
to  the  last  great  question  he  dismissed  it  with  these  melan- 
choly words : — '  May  then  a  body-politick  at  all  times  with- 
draw, in  whole  or  in  part,  that  influence  of  dominion  which 
passeth  from  it  if  inconvenience  doth  grow  thereby?  It 
must  be  presumed  that  supreme  governors  will  not  in  such 
cases  oppose  themselves  and  be  stiff  in  detaining  that  the  use 
whereof  is  with  public  detriment,  but  surely  without  their 
consent  I  see  not  how  the  body  should  be  able  by  any  fresh 
means  to  help  itself,  saving  when  dominion  doth  escheat.'  ' 

It  is  scarcely  necessary,  I  think,  to  review  in  detail  the 
other  works  which  appeared  in  England  upon  this  subject, 
A  large  proportion  of  them  at  least  are  Avell  known:  their 
arguments  are  little  more  than  a  repetition  of  those  which  I 
have  described,  and  after  all  they  were  not  the  real  causes  of 
the  development.  A  spirit  of  freedom,  fostered  in  England 
by  the  long  enjoyment  of  political  and  social  institutions  far 
superior  to  those  of  other  nations,  had  produced  both  a  capa- 
city and  an  ambition  for  freedom  which  must  inevitably  have 
triumphed,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  comparative  insignificance 
what  particular  arguments  Avcre  selected  as  the  pretext.  On 
the  oilier  hand,  the  genius  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
Anglican  Church  predisposed  its  leaders  towards  despotism, 
and  they  naturally  grasped  at  every  argument  in  its  support, 
J  may  observe,  however,  that  there  was  a  slight  difference  of 
opinion  among  the  English  supporters  of  despotic  principles.8 
The  earliest  school,  which  was  represented  chiefly  by  Barclay 
and'  Blackwood,  appeal's  to  have  acknowledged  that  men 

'  Ec.d.  Pol.,  b.  viii.  oh.  ii.     At  a,  later  period   Uimiot  threw  himself  in 
the  liberal  movement  as  corili.illy  as  Locke,  but  he  was   almost  isolate'!  iu.  tl 

Church. 

•  This  change  is  clearly  shown  in  Sidney. 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  181 

were  born  free,  and  to  have  admitted  some  possible  circum- 
stances under  which  resistance  was  lawful.  The  later  school, 
which  was  led  by  Filmer,  Ileylin,  Main  waring,  and  Hobbes, 
entirely  denied  this  original  freedom.  The  '  Patriarcha '  of 
Filmer,  which  was  the  principal  exposition  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  last  class,  rested,  like  some  of  the  writings  of  the  Gal- 
lican  school,  upon  the  supposition  that  the  political  govern- 
ment is  derived  from  and  is  of  the  same  nature  as  paternal 
government,'  and  it  concluded  that  resistance  was  in  all  cases 
pinful.  This  book  was  in  the  first  instance  answered  by 
Sidney,  who  opposed  to  it  '  the  social  compact,'  but  rested 
a  considerable  portion  of  his  argument  on  the  Old  Testament. 
At  the  Revolution,  however,  the  clergy  having  revived  the 
principles  of  Filmer,2  Locke  thought  it  necessary  to  publish 
another  answer,  and  accordingly  wrote  his  famous  treatise  of 
'  Government,'  which  differs  from  that  of  Sidney  in  being 

1  Bossuet  maintained  this,  remarking  that  '  Abimeleeh,'  which  was  a 
name  originally  common  to  all  tlic  kings  of  Palestine,  signifies,  '  My  father 
king.1  (Dt'fcnsio,  lib.  i.  c.  3.)  In  England  the  patriarchal  theory  of  govern- 
ment seems  to  have  become  especially  popular  under  James  I.  (see  Uallam's 
Hist.  <>f  Lit.,  vol.  iii.  p.  439,  cd.  1854),  but  there  are  many  traces  of  it  at 
an  earlier  period.  Thus  in  the  Institution  of  a  Christian  MUH  (153^7),  and  in 
The  Necessary  Doctrine  and  Erudition  for  any  Christian  JAw  (1543),  passive 
obedience  is  unequivocally  enforced  as  a  deduction  from  the  Fifth  Command- 
ment. 'I  die,' said  Lord  Capel  on  the  scaffold,  in  16-19, 'for  keeping  the 
Fifth  Commandment,  given  by  God  himself,  and  written  with  His  own  finger. 
It  commands  obedience  to  parents;  and  all  divines,  cliiler  as  they  will  <>n 
other  points,  agree  in  this,  and  acknowledge  that  it  includes  the  magistrate' 
(Marsden,  History  of  the  Lal>r  Puritans,  from.  16-1:2  t»  1002,  p.  320).  .Milton, 
oil  the  other  hand,  said  :  '  Pater  et  rex  diversis.-ima  sunt.  Pater  nos  genuit ; 
al  non  rex  nos  scd  nos  regoin  creavimus.  Pat  rein  natura  dedit  populo,  regem 
ipse  populns  dedit  sibi  ;  nun  ergo  proptcr  re-gnu  pnpulus,  sed  propter  popu- 
lum  rex  cst.'  (Drj'cnslo  Pop.  .!»//.,  cnp.  i.) 

*  As  Locke  says,  '  I  should  not  speak  so  plainly  of  a  gentleman  long 
finee  past  answering  (Sir  i!.  Filmer),  had  not  the  pulpit  of  late  years  pub- 
licly owned  his  duct  fine,  and  made  it  the  current  divinity  of  the  times.1 
(Preface  to  Tr«iHx<?  0,1  Cl»r<  /•/<,'/«•///.) 


182  RATIONALISM   IX    EUROPE. 

aluiost  entirely  based  upon  secular  considerations,  although 
a  considerable  space  is  devoted  to  the  refutation  of  the  theo- 
logical arguments  of  his  opponent.  Locke  adopts  almost  en- 
tirely the  principles  of  Hooker,  for  whom  he  entertained  feel 
ings  of  deep  and  well-merited  admiration,  but  he  altogether 
discards  the  qualifications  by  which  Hooker  had  sometimes 
neutralised  his  teaching.  All  government,  he  maintains,  is 
the  gift  of  the  people  for  the  people's  advantage,  and  there- 
fore no  legislation  is  legitimate  which  is  contrary  to  the  peo- 
ple's interests,  and  no  change  of  government  wi'ong  which  is 
in  accordance  with  them.1  Prerogative  is  that  measure  of 
power  which  the  nation  concedes  to  its  ruler,  and  the  nation 
may  either  extend  or  restrict  it.2  To  impose  taxes  on  a  peo- 
ple without  their  consent  is  simply  robbery.'  Those  who  are 
appointed  by  the  people  to  legislate  have  no  power  to  trans- 
fer their  authority  to  others,4  nor  may  they  govern  except  by 
established  laws.6  And  as  the  sovereignty  in  the  first  instance 
emanates  from  the  people,  so  the  people  may  reclaim  it  at 
will.  The  ability  with  which  these  views  were  urged,  and 
the  favourable  circumstances  under  Avhich  they  appeared, 
gave  them  an  easy  triumph,  and  the  Revolution  made  them 
the  ba^i-s  of  the  Constitution. 

1  'The  end  of  government  being  tho  good  of  the  community,  whatever 
alterations  arc  made  in  it  tending  to  that  end  cannot  be  an  encroachment 
upon  anybody,  since  nobody  in  government  can  hitve  any  right  tending  to 
nuv  other  end.'  (On  G'»nr>i>ii<'nf,  e.  xiv.) 

"  -//'/(/.,  e.  xviii. 

3  '  ]f  any  one  shall  elaiiu  a  power  to  lay  or  levy  taxes  on  the  people  with- 
out their  consent,  ho  thereby  invade*  the  fundamental  law  of  property,  and 
Eiilivei't---  the  end  of  government.'     (/'>•'</.,  eh.  xi.) 

4  'The  h'gi.-lature  cannot  transfer  the  power  of  making  laws,  for,  it  being 
b-it  u  di  legated  power  from  the  people,  they  who  have  it  cannot  pass  it  over 
to  others.'     (Il>i'l.)     This  doctrine  was  very  justly  regarded  by  Grattan  and 
I'lunket  as  decisive  against  the  constitutional  character  of  tiie  Act  of  Union 
Dctween  England  and  Ireland.  '"  Hn>L 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF    POLITICS.  183 

It  is  well  worthy  of  remark  that  the  triumph  of  toleration 
and  the  triumph  of  civil  liberty  should  both  have  been  defin- 
itively effected  in  England  at  the  same  time,  and  should  both 
have  found  their  chief  champion  in  the  same  man.  Both 
tvere  achieved  by  laymen  in  direct  opposition  to  the  Church 
and  in  the  moment  of  her  extreme  depression.  Both  too 
represented  a  movement  of  secularisation:  for  by  the  first 
theological  questions  were  withdrawn  from  the  sphere  of 
politics,  and  by  the  second  the  principle  of  authority  was  re- 
moved from  a  theological  to  a  secular  basis.  But  what  espe- 
cially characterises  the  development  of  English  liberty  is 
that,  although  it  was  effected  contrary  to  the  Church  and 
contrary  to  the  clergy,  it  was  not  effected  contrary  to 
religion.  This  —  which,  when  we  consider  the  mournful 
history  of  Continental  liberty,  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as 
the  happiest  fact  in  English  history  —  was  no  doubt-  due  in  a 
great  measure  to  the  success  with  which  the  Dissenters  had 
associated  religion  and  liberty  ;  to  the  essential  imperfection 
of  the  Anglican  theory,  which  left  undefined  the  question 
\vhen  allegiance  may  be  transferred  to  a  triumphant  rebel,1 


to  the  sovereign  </<?  fact<>.  This  doctrine,  however,  was  at  the  Devolution 
generally  and  indignantly  repudiated  by  the  elergy.  who  maintained  that 
while  King  James  held  his  court  at  St.  Gennains  he  alone  was  entitled  to 
their  allegiance.  However,  after  the  Revolution,  Bancroft  published  a  work 
called  Z?.-'.s7i"/>  OifroH's  Conwat'x-ni  P.oolc,  which  had  been  approved  by  bo:h 
Housed  of  Convocation  at  the  beirinn'mir  of  tin.-  reign  of  James  I.  This  work 
j.hk-h  had  not  before  been  published]  asserted  in  the  strongest  terms  the 
doctrine  of  passive  obedience,  based  it  on  the  patriarchal  thi-ory  of  govern- 
ment, and  declared  that  in  case  of  a  change  of  government  bei.ig  effected  ty 
unrighteous  means,  allegiance  should  be  tranr-tVnvJ  iu  th>  r>evv  pevre-r  when 
it  was  'thoroughly  settled.'  Thereupon  Sherlock  declared  .hai  lu  eou-i.iercd 
himself  bound  by  the  voice  of  the  Church  to  take  use  u  itlis  of  all'-ui',  m-e  to 
the  government  of  William  (which,  to  the  world  at  I  irue,  seenu-u  very  far 
indeed  from  'thoroughly  settled  '),  and  lie  iiccurdiiign  •icerpte'!  me-  dc.  1:1017 


J.b4  RATIONALISM    LN    EUROPE. 

and  also  to  the  admirable  moderation  of  Somers  and  Locke: 
but  it  was  still  more  due  to  the  genius  of  the  Reformation. 
Never  did  Protestantism  exhibit  more  clearly  its  admirable 
flexibility  of  doctrine,  its  capacity  for  modifying  and  recast- 
ing its  principles  to  meet  the  wants  of  succeeding  ages,  than 
when,  without  any  serious  religious  convulsion,  the  political 
system  of  England  was  based  upon  the  direct  negation  of  the 
unanimous  teaching  of  the  Early  Church  and  of  the  almost 
unanimous  teaching  of  the  Xational  one.  And  the  contrast 
the  history  of  English  liberty  bears  to  that  of  Continental  liber- 
ty becomes  still  more  remarkable  when  we  remember  tne  atti- 
tude exhibited  by  the  avowed  opponents  of  Christianity.  In 
England,  with  the  exception  of  Shaftcsbury,  the  most  emi- 
nent of  these  were  cither  indifferent  or  opposed  to  the  move- 
ment. Under  the  government  of  the  Stuarts,  Ilobbes  not 
only  maintained  the  most  extreme  views  of  Taylor  and  Us- 
shi/r,  but  carried  them  to  a  point  from  which  even  those 
divines  would  have  recoiled:  for  the  result  of  his  philosophy 
was  nothing  less  than  to  make  the  civil  ruler  the  supreme 
arbiter  of  the  moral  law.  During  the  reaction  under  Queen 
Anne  the  clerical  party  owed  its  chief  strength  to  the  genius 
of  Bolingbroke,  who  consolidated  its  broken  forces,  and 
elaborated  with  an  almost  dazzling  eloquence  his  ideal  of  'A 
Patriot  King'  to  counterbalance  the  ideal  of  liberty.  And 
at  a  si ili  later  period,  while  Bishop  IIoi>ley  was  proclaiming 
that  'subjects  had  nothing  to  say  t<>  the  laws  except  to  obey 
them,'  Hume  was  employing  all  his  skill  in  investing  with 

of  Ki.  P;<,ilV-.  Tin.1  explosion  that  followed  is  admirably  divcribed  by 
Maeau!;jy  i.eti.  \\i\.).  It  is  evident  that  the  doubt  lianpn.s  over  this  part  of 
the  theory  of  •),<:  Aiuli'-an  divines,  was  favourable  to  liberty — in  the  fir.-t 
place  by  weakening  th<  lexical  force  of  that  theory,  and  in  the  second  place 
by  givhig  tho-e,  who  -hunk  from  absolutely  rejecting  it  a  pretext  for  joining 
the  uc'A  ^  n  eminent. 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF    POLITICS.  185 

the  most  seductive  colours  the  policy  cf  the  Stuarts,  in  ren- 
dering the  great  supporters  of  liberty  in  the  seventeenth 
century  either  odious  or  ridiculous,  and  in  throwing  into  the 
most  plausible  aspects  the  maxims  of  their  opponents.1 

It  is  remarkable  that  while  England  and  France  have 
l)een  the  two  nations  which  have  undoubtedly  done  most  for 
the  political  emancipation  of  mankind,  they  have  also  been 
those  in  which  the  Xational  Churches  were  most  bitterly 
opposed  to  freedom.  "We  have  seen  the  manner  in  which 
the  double  movement  of  secularisation  and  of  liberty  was 
effected  in  the  Protestant  country;  it  remains  to  trace  the 
corresponding  development  in  the  Catholic  one. 

It  was  upon  the  French  Protestants  that  the  office  Avhich 
in  England  was  filled  by  the  Puritans  naturally  devolved. 
The  fact  that  they  were  a  minority,  and  often  a  persecuted 
minority,  gave  them  a  bias  in  favour  of  liberty,  while  at  the 
same  time  their  numbers  were  sufficiently  great  to  communi- 
cate a  considerable  impulse  to  public  opinion.  Unfortunate- 
ly, however,  the  extreme  arrogance  and  the  persecuting  spirit 
they  manifested  whenever  they  rose  to  power  rendered  them 
peculiarly  unfit  to  be  the  champions  of  liberty;  while  at  the 
same  time  their  position  as  a  minority  of  the  nation,  govern- 

1  Among  the  less  eminent  freethinkers  there  \vcre,  indeed,  some  excep- 
tions to  this  tendency.  Thus  Tiudal  wrote  a  tract  against  Tussive  Obedience 
in  1694,  a  defence  of  Toleration  in  1(31)7,  and  a  defence  of  a  Free  Tress  in 
IC'iS.  Toland  too  wrote,  in  IT1'-,  a  somewhat  remarkable  book  called 
A>igiica  I.Unra,  in  which  lie  advocated  very  eloquently  the  political  prin- 
ciples of  Locke,  denounced  strongly  the  doctrine  of  Ilobbes  that  a  sovereign 
lias  a  right  to  dictate  the  religion  of  his  subjects,  and  maintained  that  'the 
success  of  the  Protestant  religion,  politically  speaking,  depends  on  the  lib- 
erty of  the  several  States  of  Kurope'  (p.  1>5).  Toland  also  edited  tin) 
U'raim,  and  wrote  the  Lives  of  Harrington  and  Milton.  Tut  the  must 
eminent  avowed  English  freethinkers  of  the'  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies are  those  nn  ntioned  in  the  text,  with  the  exception  of  Oibbon,  who 
sat  in  Parliament  as  a  Tory. 


J86  RATIONALISM    IX    EUROPE. 

ed  mainly  by  religious  principles  in  an  era  of  religious  wars, 
rendered  their  prevailing  spirit  profoundly  anti-national 
Wherever  sectarian  feeling  is  keenly  felt,  it  proves  strongei 
than  patriotism.  The  repulsion  separating  men  as  members 
of  different  religions  becomes  more  powerful  than  the  attrac- 
tion uniting  them  as  children  of  the  same  soil,  and  the  maxim 
that  a  man's  true  country  is  not  that  in  which  he  was  bora 
but  that  of  his  co-religionists  being  professed,  or  at  least  act- 
ed on,  treason  is  easily  justified.  In  the  present  day,  when 
the  fever  of  theology  has  happily  subsided,  Ireland  forms  an 
almost  solitary  example  of  a  nation  in  which  national  inter- 
ests and  even  national  pride  are  habitually  sacrificed  to  sec- 
tarianism ;  but  in  the  sixteenth  century  such  a  sacrifice  was 
general,  and  although  in  France  at  least  it  was  made  quite  as 
much  by  the  majority  as  by  the  minority,  it  naturally  ap- 
peared in  the  latter  case  more  conspicuous  and  repulsive. 
The  atrocious  persecutions  the  majority  directed  against  the 
minority  rendered  the  alienation  of  the  latter  from  the  na- 
tional sympathies  both  natural  and  excusable,  but  it  did  not 
appear  so  to  the  persecutors.  The  majority  have  therefore 
usually  been  able  1o  enlist  the  patriotic  feelings  of  the  multi- 
tude against  the  minority,  and  this  has  weakened  the  political 
influence  of  the  latter. 

In  the  political  teaching  of  the  French  Protestants  it  is 
easv  to  detect  two  distinct  currents.  Whenever  the  Pope  or 
the  Ultramontane  theologians  put  forward  a  claim  to  the 
power  of  deposition,  the  Protestants  constituted  themselves 
the  champions  of  loyal1  v,  and  endeavoured  in  this  manner  to 
•win  the  i'avour  of  the  rulers.  Thus  we  lind  th'-ir  synr,d« 
condcniiiiiiL;-  with  irroat  solemnity  the  treatise  of  Snare/,  pro- 
tcst'tii'.:  in  the  m<>-t  emphatic,  language  against  the  disloyalty 
of  the  Catholic-,  mid  assuring  the  sovereign  in  their  petitions 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF    POLITICS.  187 

that  they  at  least  recognised  no  mediate  power  between  the 
king  and  the  Almighty.1  If  we  were  to  judge  their  opinions 
by  the  language  of  some  of  their  petitions,  we  might  imagine 
that  they  were  no  less  favourable  to  despotism  than  the  An- 
glicans. But  such  a  judgment  would  do  them  great  injustice, 
No  body  of  men  ever  exhibited  a  greater  alacrity  in  resisting 
persecution  by  force,  and,  with  a  few  exceptions,  the  general 
tone  of  their  theology  as  of  their  policy  was  eminently  favour- 
able to  liberty.  Opinions  on  these  subjects  have  so  com- 
pletely changed  since  the  seventeenth  century,  that  the 
defence  of  the  French  Protestants  is  chiefly  to  be  found  in 
the  writings  of  their  adversaries ;  and,  according  to  modern 
notions,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  nobler  eulogy  than  is 
implied  in  the  accusation  of  one  of  the  ablest  of  these,  who 
declared  that  the  general  tendency  of  the  Protestant  writings 
was  always  to  the  effect  that  'kings  and  subjects  were  recip- 
rocally bound  by  contract  to  the  performance  of  certain 
things,  in  such  a  manner  that  if  the  sovereign  failed  to  per- 
form his  promise  the  subjects  were  freed  from  their  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  might  engage  themselves  to  new  masters/  s 

The  opinions  of  the  French  Protestants  on  these  points 
may  be  more  easily  ascertained  from  their  actions  than  from 
their  writings ;  and  the  right  of  resisting  reliu'ious  persecu- 
tion was  naturally  more  considered  than  the  ri^ht  of  resisting 

1  Many  instances  of  this  are  collected  by  Tlianchi  (torn,  i.  pp.  -Kl -8-1), 
but  the  fullest  account  I  have  met  with  is  in  a  very  clever  anonymous  book 
(written  from  a  stronir  Catholic  point  of  view,  and  ascribed  by  some  to  au 
author  named  Fellison,  and  by  others  to  Uaylei,  called  Arts  <ti'.r  /,^/W/V;  .*>tr 
Icur  prochain  retonr  en  /•>«/«•<,  par  M.  C.  I,.  _\.  A.  1".  I>.  V.  Tin-  condemna- 
tion of  the1  book  of  Snare/,  wa-  bv  a  Synod  of  Tonnenis.  in  101-1.  On  the 
other  hand,  on  the  extremely  liberal  views  uf  .hnlen,  who  preceded  both 
Sidney  and  Locke,  see  Michclct,  lil-t.  <le  Louis  T/T.,  pp.  431-100.  Th-< 
book  in  whieb  J^rieu  especially  u\pivs.-rd  them  >  his  Sovpii-s  d?  /•.»  /Va<«.'< 
JEsdave. 

3  Avis  av.jf,  Refwju-,  pp.  04,  05  (cd.  Itl'.vjj 


188  RATIONALISM    LN    EUROPE. 

political  tyranny.  Jurieu  strenuously  asserted  the  first  right ; 
and  although  Saurin  is  said  to  have  taken  the  opposite  view,' 
the  numerous  rebellions  of  the  Protestants  leave  no  doubt  as 
to  their  general  sentiments.  The  two  most  remarkable  works 
bearing  upon  the  secular  aspect  of  the  question  that  issued 
from  this  quarter  were  the  'Franco-Gallia'  of  Hotman,  and 
the  '  Vindicias  contra  Tyrannos '  of  Junius  Brutus. 

The  first  of  these  was  published  in  15*73.  Its  author  (who 
had  escaped  from  France  to  Geneva  at  the  time  of  the  mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew)  was  one  of  the  most  learned  law- 
yers of  the  day,  and  the  chief  advocate  of  the  Protestant 
view  of  some  of  the  legal  questions  that  arose  about  the  suc- 
cession of  the  crown.*  The  'Franco-Gallia'  is  an  elaborate 
attempt  to  prove  that  the  Crown  of  France  is,  by  right,  not 
hereditary  but  elective.  The  arguments  are  drawn  in  part 
from  general  considerations  about  the  origin  of  government, 
which  Ilotman  attributed  to  the  -will  of  the  people,3  but 
chiefly  from  facts  in  French  history.  The  writer  also  at- 
tempts to  show,  in  an  argument  that  was  evidently  directed 
against  Catharine  de'  Medici,  that  the  exclusion  of  women 
from  the  French  throne  implied,  or  at  least  strongly  recom- 
mended, their  exclusion  from  the  regency,  and  that  on  every 
occasion  in  which  they  had  exercised  the  supreme  power 
disastrous  consequences  had  ensued.4 

"-  AHchclet,  Hi*'.  '^  Lonh  XIV.  n*r,o),  p.  v\-i. 

"  The  works  of  Ilotman  were  collected  in  three  large  volumes,  in  IfldO. 
After  the  l-'rinit-o-GnUia  the  best  known  are  the  linilum  /W///r?/,  which  uj* 
•written  on  the  occasion  of  the  excommunication  of  the  King  of  Navarre 
ami  tlif  Ajitili-'Jtuiiiiix,  which  was  written  in  opposition  to  the  revival  of  Jlo- 
mar  iegi~huion.  .To-eph  Scalier  said  lie  helped  in  the  composition  of  the 
l-'raii' !'-<•' i/'iti  \  •^'•'if!;/''i-'i/i(',  art.  Jlotti'nnanmis). 

••  F'anco-GaUii,  lib.  i.  e.  !>. 

1  Lib.  i.  e.  24.  tvi  Knox  :  'To  promote  a  woman  to  beure  rule  is  repug- 
nant to  nature,  conwmelic  to  Clod,  a  thing  most  contrarious  to  his  reveled 


THE   SECULARISATION    OF   POLITICS.  189 

A  muc-li  more  remarkable  book  was  the  '  Yindiciae  contra 
Tyraimos,'  which  was  published  about  the  same  time  as  the 
Franco-Gallia,'  and  translated  into  French  in  1581,  and 
which,  being  written  with  much  ability,  exercised  a  verj 
considerable  influence.  Some  have  ascribed  it,  but  appar- 
ently without  reason,  to  Hotmail—others  to  Linguet  or  to 
Parquet.  The  author,  whoever  he  may  be,  holds,  like 
Hooker,  that  the  regal  authority  is,  in  the  first  instance, 
derived  from  the  people,  but  that  notwithstanding  this  it  is 
held  by  Divine  right.  From  this  consideration  he  argues 
that  a  king  is  bound  by  two  pacts,  on  the  observance  of 
which  his  legitimacy  depends — a  pact  to  God  that  he  will 
govern  according  to  the  Divine  law,  and  a  pact  to  the  people 
that  lie  will  govern  according  to  their  interests.1  A  nation 
may  resist  by  arms  a  sovereign  who  has  violated  the  Divine 
law,  because  the  first  of  these  pacts  is  then  broken,  and  also 
because  it  is  part  of  the  Providential  system  that  subjects 
should  he  punished  for  the  crimes  of  their  ruler,  which  im- 
plies that  they  are  bound  to  prevent  them.2  This  last  propo- 
sition the  author  maintains  at  length  from  the  Old  Testament. 
"Whenever  the  king  violated  the  Divine  command,  some  fear- 
ful chastisement  was  inflicted  upon  the  nation,  and  the  chief 
office  of  the  prophets  u  as  to  signalise  these  violations,  and  to 
urge  the  people  to  resistance.  Every  page  of  Jewish  history 
bears  witness  to  this,  and  at  the  present  day  the  Jews  arc 
dispersed  because  their  ancestors  did  not  snatch  Christ  from 
the  hands  of  Pilate.  But  it  is  impossible  to  go  so  far  with- 
out advancing  a  step  further;  for  if  the  Jewish  precedent  is 


win  and  approved  ordinance;  and  f'nwHie  it  is  the  subversion  of  <'n<  d  order 


190  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

to  be  applied,  it  is  manifest  the  Divine  law  is  violated  not 
merely  by  the  persecution  of  truth,  but  also  by  the  toleration 
of  error.  Xo  crime  was  more  constantly  denounced  or  more 
fiercely  punished  under  the  old  Dispensation  than  religious 
tolerance.  Xo  fact  is  more  legibly  stamped  upon  the  Jewish 
writings  than  that,  in  the  opinion  of  their  authors,  a  Jewish 
sovereign  who  permitted  his  people  to  practise  unmolested 
the  rites  of  an  idolatry  which  they  preferred  was  committing 
a  sin.  Xor  does  the  author  of  the  book  we  are  considering 
shrink  from  the  consequence.  He  quotes,  as  an  applicable 
precedent,  the  conduct  of  the  people  who  at  the  instigation 
of  Elijah  massacred  the  whole  priesthood  of  Baal,  and  he 
maintains  that  the  toleration  of  an  '  impious  sacred  rite '  is  a 
justifiable  cause  of  rebellion.1 

The  question  then  arose  in  what  manner  this  resistance 
was  to  be  organised.  And  here  the  writer  separates  himself 
clearly  from  the  school  of  Mariana,  for  he  strongly  denies  the 
right  of  an  individual  to  take  the  life  of  a  persecutor  by  way 
of  assassination,  however  favourable  the  people  might  be  to 
the  act.  Resistance  can  only  be  authorised  by  a  council  rep- 
resenting the  people.  In  all  well-regulated  countries  a  par- 
liament or  assembly  of  some  kind  exists  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  representative;  and  although  cadi  individual 
member  is  less  than  the  king,  the  council,  as  a  whole,  is  his 
superior,  and  the  vote  of  the  majority  may  depose  him." 
\Vhen  such  a  council  docs  not  exist  it  may  be  extemporised, 
but  the  elements  should,  if  possible,  be  drawn  from  the  aris 
tocracy  and  the  magistrates.  Xor  is  it  simply  a  nation  that 
may  thus  withdraw  its  allegiance.  The  author,  evidently 
with  a  view  to  the  position  of  the  French  Protestants,  adds 
that  particular  districts  or  cities,  if  the  inhabitants  desire  it 

Vindioicc,  pp.  38-39,  60.  "  P.  45. 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  191 

and  if  their  magistrates  consent,  may  likewise  withdraw 
themselves  from  their  allegiance,  and  may  insist  upon  the 
maintenance  among  them  of  the  worship  they  believe  to  be 
right,  and  the  suppression  of  that  which  they  believe  to  be 
wrong.1  The  principles  which  were  thus  urged  in  favour  of 
rebellion  on  religious  grounds  apply,  with  very  little  change 
to  rebellions  that  are  purely  political.  A  king  who  ruled  in 
opposition  to  the  will  of  his  people  had  broken  the  pact  that 
bound  him,  and  had  consequently  become  a  tyrant.  In  the 
case  of  a  tyrant  who  had  occupied  the  throne  by  force  against 
the  manifest  will  of  the  people,  but  in  this  case  alone,  tyran- 
nicide is  lawful,  and  the  examples  of  Harmodius  and  Aristo- 
geiton,  of  Brutus  and  Cassius,  are  to  be  commended.  In 
other  cases,  however,  resistance  must  first  be  authorised  by  a 
council  representing  the  nation,  and  consisting  of  its  leading 
men.  Like  Ilotman,  the  author  contends  that  all  monarchy 
was  originally  elective,  and  lie  adds  that  it  still  so  retains  its 
character,  that  the  people  may  at  any  time  reject  the  family 
they  have  raised  to  the  throne,  and  that  the  heir  apparent  is 
no  more  than  a  candidate  Cor  office.2 

There  is  one  other  question  treated  in  this  remarkable 
book  to  which  I  may  advert  for  a  moment,  because,  although 
not  connected  with  the  right  of  resistance,  it  throws  some 
li^ht  upon  the  condition  of  feeling  sectarian  animosities  had 
produced.  This  question  is  whether,  when  the  majority  of  a 
nation  is  persecuting  the  minority,  a  foreign  potentate  may 
interpose  by  arms  to  succour  his  co-religionists.  The  reply 
is  that  it  is  his  imperative  duty  to  do  so.  It'  he  does  not.  he 
is  guilty  of  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  :  lie  is  even  Averse  than 
the  persecutors;  for  they  at  least  imagine  that  they  are  slay- 

3  P.  79. 


192  RATIONALISM   IX   EUKOPE. 

ing   the  wicked,  while   he  permits  the  slaughter  of  those 

whom  he  knows  to  he  the  just. 

• 
It  is  not  probable  that  many  of  the  French  Protestants 

would  have  sanctioned  all  the  propositions  of  this  book,  but 
the  principles  of  which  it  may  be  regarded  as  the  concentra- 
tion were  very  widely  diffused  among  the  members  of  both 
creeds,  and  had  no  inconsiderable  influence  in  preparing  the 
way  for  the  Revolution.  The  chief  political  importance, 
however,  of  the  religious  wars  was  not  so  much  in  the  doc- 
trines they  produced  as  in  the  circumstances  under  which 
those  doctrines  were  advocated.  Few  things  contributed 
more  powerfully  to  the  secularisation  of  politics  than  the 
anarchy  of  opinions,  the  manifest  subordination  of  principles 
to  interests,  that  was  exhibited  on  all  sides  among  theolo- 
gians. A  single  battle,  a  new  alliance,  a  change  in  the  policy 
of  the  rulers,  a  prospect  of  some  future  triumph,  was  suffi- 
cient to  alter  the  whole  tone  and  complexion  of  the  teachings 
of  a  Church.  Doctrines  concerning  the  sinfulness  of  rebel- 
lion, which  were  urged  with  the  most  dogmatic  certainty 
and  supported  by  the  most  terrific  threats,  swayed  to  and 
fro  Avith  each  vicissitude  of  fortune,  were  adopted  or  aban- 
doned with  the  same  celerity,  curtailed  or  modified  or  ex- 
panded to  meet  the  passing  interests  of  the  hour.  They  be- 
c  amc,  as  Dayle  said,  like  birds  of  passage,  migrating  with 
every  change  of  climate.  In  no  country  and  in  no  Church 
do  we  find  anything  resembling  the  conduct  of  those  an- 
••ient  Christians  who  never  advocated  passive  obedience 
more  strongly  than  when  all  their  interests  were  against  it. 
The  apostasies  were  so  flagrant,  the  fluctuations  were  so 
rapid,  that  it  was  impossible  to  overlook  them,  and  they 
continued  till  the  ascendency  of  theology  over  politics  was 
destroved.  The  keen  eve  of  the  great  sceptic  of  the  age 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  193 

soon  marked  the  change,  and  foresaw  the  issue  to  which  it 
was  leading.1 

It  will  probably  have  struck  the  reader  in  perusing  the 
foregoing  pages,  and  it  will  certainly  have  struck  those  who 
have  examined  the  books  that  have  been  referred  to,  that,  in 
addition  to  theological  interests  and  traditions,  there  was  a 
purely  secular  influence  derived  from  the  writings  of  pagan- 
ism acting  strongly  in  the  direction  of  liberty.  The  names 
that  recur  most  frequently  in  these  writings  are  those  of  the 
great  heroes  of  antiquity;  and  whether  we  examine  the 
works  of  Mariana  or  Hooker,  or  of  the  author  of  the  '  Yindi- 
cire,'  we  are  transported  into  discussions  concerning  the 
origin  of  power  that  are  drawn  mainly  from  the  pagan  phi- 
losophers.3 

This  influence  was,  I  think,  of  two  kinds — the  first  being 
chiefly  logical,  and  the  second  chiefly  moral.  At  the  close 
of  the  twelfth  or  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
two  professors  of  the  University  of  Bologna,  named  Irneritis 
and  Accursius,  devoted  themselves  to  exploring  manuscripts 
of  some  of  the  Laws  of  Justinian,  which  had  for  centuries 

1  '  Yoyez  I'horriblo  impudenre  dc  quoi  nous  pclotons  los  raisons  divines, 
et  coinbicn  irreligieusement  nous  les  avons,  rejettees  et  reprises  scion  quc  la 
fortune  nous  a  chanjrez  de  place  en  ccs  oragos  publics.  Cette  proposition  si 
solennellc,  s'il  est  permis  au  sujet  de  se  rcbeller  ct  arnicr  contve  son  prince 
pour  la  defense  de  la  religion,  souvienne-vous  en  quelles  touches  cetfc  amice 
passee  rafYirinativc  d'iccllc  etoit  1' arcboutant  d'un  parti,  la  ncLrative  de  quel 
autre  parti  e'etoit  1'arcboutant,  et  oycz  a  pivsent  de  quelle  quartior  vient  l;i 
voix  et  instruction  do  Tune  et  de  I'autic  r-i  k-s  annes  i>rnyeiH  inijiii-  p'.'ur  eeite 
cause  ijiie  pour  cclle-lu.' — Muntiuu'ne.  J?xx <<•'.•;,  liv.  it.  c.  1 '_'. 

3  This  tendency  of  the  classical  writings  elicited  a  Imr-t  of  evtrcn.e 
Indignation  from  Holil-.cs  :  'Inter  relielli'inis  causas  niaxiuws  numcrari  pote.-t 
librorum  politicorum  et  b.istorieoruni  quns  .-i-vip>evirit  vetcres  Gr»ri  et  I!o- 
tnani  lectio.  .  .  .  iiihi  eri:o  nuniari-liiis  nihil  videtnr  CSSP  clamnosiua 
posse,  quam  permittere  ut  htijusnindi  liliri  publice  d<iee;,titur,  ni~i  -iniul  ;i 
magistris  papientHnis  quibus  \eiHjii!iia  ecrri^i  pus^it  remedia  nppliccntur. 
Morbani  hunc  coniparari  libct  ruin  hydrophobia.'  \'c.  iJ.tr'i<ithi.n'.  •-••ip.  xxix.) 


194:  RATIONALISM   IN   EUEOPE. 

been  buried  in  the  greal  library  of  Ravenna ;  and  they  not 
only  revived  the  knowledge  of  a  legislation  that  was  sup- 
posed to  have  perished,  but  also  formed  a  school  of  commen- 
tators who  did  good  service  in  elucidating  its  character.  For 
a  very  long  period  the  labours  that  were  thus  instituted  had 
but  little  influence  outside  the  domain  of  jurisprudence;  but 
at  last,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  a  succession  of  great  lawyers 
arose — of  whom  Bodin,  Cujas,  and  Alciat  were  the  most 
remarkable — who  applied  to  the  Roman  law  intellects  of  a 
far  higher  order,  and,  among  other  points,  paid  great  atten- 
tion to  its  historic  development.  The  balance  between  the 
popular  and  the  aristocratic  rights  and  the-  gradual  encroach- 
ment of  the  imperial  power  upon  the  liberties  of  Rome 
became  for  about  a  century  favourite  subjects  of  discussion, 
and  naturally  produced  similar  enquiries  concerning  modern 
States.  From  a  philosophical  investigation  of  these  ques- 
tions the  lawyers  passed  by  an  inevitable  transition  to  an 
examination  of  the  origin  ok'  government,  a  subject  which 
they  pursued,  from  their  own  point  of  vicAV,  as  energetically 
as  the  theologians.  Bodin,  who  was  probably  the  ablest  of 
those  who  devoted  themselves  to  these  studies,  cannot  indeed 
be  regarded  as  a  representative  of  the  democratic  tendency; 
for  he  si  renuou-dy  repudiated  the  notion  of  a  social  contract, 
maintaining  the  origin  of  monarchy  to  be  usurpation;  lie 
denied  that  the  ruler  should  be  regarded  simply  as  a  chief 
magistrate,  and  he  combated  with  great  force  the  distinction 
which  Aristotle  and  the  schoolmen  had  drawn  between  n 
kin-j;  and  a  tyrant.1  Hotmail,  however,  in  France,  and, 
about  a,  century  later,  (ironovius  and  Xoodt,  who  were  two 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  195 

of  the  most  eminent  Dutch  advocates  of  liberty,  based  their 
teaching  almost  entirely  upon  these  legal  researches.1 

But  the  principal  influence  which  the  pagan  writings 
exercised  upon  liberty  is  to  be  found  in  the  direction  they 
gave  to  the  enthusiasm  of  Europe.  It  has  no  doubt  fallen  to 
the  lot  of  many  who  have  come  in  contact  with  the  great 
masterpieces  of  the  Greek  chisel  to  experience  the  sensation 
of  a  new  perception  of  beauty  which  it  is  the  prerogative  of 
the  highest  works  of  genius  to  evoke.  A  statue  we  may 
have  often  seen  with  disappointment  or  indifference,  or  with 
a  languid  and  critical  admiration,  assumes  one  day  a  new 
aspect  in  our  eyes.  It  is  not  that  we  have  discovered  in  it 
some  features  that  had  before  escaped  our  notice  ;  it  is  not 
that  we  have  associated  with  it  any  definite  ideas  that  can 
be  expressed  by  words  or  defended  by  argument :  it  is  rather 
a  silent  revelation  of  a  beauty  that  had  been  hidden,  the 
dawn  of  a  new  conception  of  grandeur,  almost  the  creation 
of  another  sense.  The  judgment  is  raised  to  the  level  of  the 
object  it  contemplates  ;  it  is  moulded  into  its  imacre  ;  it  is 
thrilled  and  penetrated  by  its  power. 

Something  of  this  kind  took  place  in  Kurope  as  a  conse- 
quence of  the  revival  of  learning.  In  the  middle  ages  the 
ascendency  of  the  Church  had  been  so  absolute  that  the 
whole  men  sure  of  moral  grandeur  had  been  derived  from  the 
ecclesiastical  annals.  The  heroism,  the  self-sacrifice,  the 

1  See  Xoodt  On.  iV.r  7W--r  of  Snrrrcirtns,  and  Oonovius  O/t  tlf  R-yn'; 
Lawl  both  of  which  were  translated  into  .Freiic'h  by  Uarbcyrac — the  first  in 
I7'i7,  and  the  second  in  171 1.  They  were  both  in  the  form  of  lectures 
ielivercd  near  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  before  the  University  of 
Leyden,  and  are  both,  I  think,  rather  dismal  performanees.  Xoodt  was  a 
Strenuous  advocate  of  liberty  of  conscience,  and  also  one  of  the  primip.-d 
assailants  of  the  theological  snper.-tiiions  about  usury,  (ironovius  is  liost 
remembered  for  his  Annotations  of  Cretins,  in  which  IK  strongly  ivpui'lated 
trie  servile,  political  maxims  of  that  writ  ; 


196  BATIOXALISM   IN   EUEOPE. 

humility,  the  labours  of  the  saints  formed  the  ideal  of  perfee 
tioD,  and  a  greatness  of  a  different  order  could  scarcely  be 
imagined.  The  names  of  the  heroes  of  antiquity  were  indeed 
familiar,  their  principal  achievements  were  related,  and  the 
original  writings  in  which  they  were  recorded  were  some- 
times read,  but  they  fell  coldly  and  lifelessly  upon  the  mind. 
The  chasm  that  divided  the  two  periods  arose  not  so  much 
from  the  fact  that  the  heroes  of  antiquity  were  pagans,  and 
therefore,  according  to  the  orthodox  doctrine,  doomed  to 
eternal  reprobation,  or  even  from  the  different  direction  their 
heroism  had  taken,  as  from  the  type  of  character  they  dis- 
played. The  sense  of  human  dignity  and  the  sense  of  sin,  as 
we  have  already  noticed,  are  the  two  opposing  sentiments 
one  or  other  of  which  may  be  traced  in  almost  every 
great  moral  movement  mankind  has  undergone,  and  each, 
when  very  powerful,  produces  a  moral  type  altogether  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  is  produced  by  the  other.  The 
first  is  a  proud  aspiring  tendency,  intolerant  of  every 
chain,  eager  in  asserting  its  rights,  resenting  promptly  the 
slightest  wrong,  self-confident,  disdainful,  and  ambitious. 
The  second  produces  a  submissive  and  somewhat  cowering 
tone;  it  looks  habitually  downwards,  grasps  fondly  and 
eagerly  at  any  support  which  is  offered  by  authority,  and  in 
its  deep  self-distrust  seeks,  with  a  passionate  earnestness,  for 
sonic  dogmatic  system  under  which  it  may  shelter  its  naked- 
ness. The  first  is  the  almost  invariable  antecedent  and  one 
of  the  chief  efficient  causes  of  political  liberty,  and  the  second 
of  theological  change.  It  is  true  that  as  theological  or  politi- 
cal movements  advance  they  ofieu  lose  their  first  character, 
coalesce  with  other  movements,  and  become  the  representa- 
tives of  other  tendencies;  but  in  the  lii>t  instance  one  or 
other  of  these  t\vo  sentiments  mav  almost  alwavsbe  detected. 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  197 

It  was  the  sense  of  sin  that  taught  the  old  Catholic  saints  to 
sound  the  lowest  depths  of  mortification,  of  self-sacrifice,  and 
of  humiliation ;  that  convulsed  the  mind  of  Luther  in  the 
monastery  of  Wittenberg,  and  persuaded  him  that  neither 
his  cwn  good  works  nor  the  indulgences  of  the  Pope  could 
avert  the  nnger  of  the  Almighty ;  that  impelled  Wesley  and 
Whitfield  .o  revolt  against  the  frigid  moral  teaching  of  their 
time,  and  raise  once  more  the  banner  of  Justification  by 
Faith;  that  urged  the  first  leaders  of  Tractarianism  towards 
a  Church  which  by  authoritative  teaching  and  multiplied 
absolutions  could  allay  the  paroxysms  of  a  troubled  con- 
science.1 On  the  other  hand,  almost  every  great  political 
revolution  that  has  been  successfully  achieved  has  been 
preceded  by  a  tone  of  marked  self-confidence  and  pride, 
manifested  alike  in  philosophy,  in  general  literature,  and  in 
religion.  When  a  theological  movement  has  coalesced  with 
a  struggle  for  liberty,  it  has  usually  been  impregnated  with 
the  same  spirit.  The  sense  of  privilege  was  much  more 
prominent  in  the  Puritanism  of  the  seventeenth  century  than 
the  sense  of  sin,  and  a  fierce  rebellion  against  superstition 
than  humility.2 

Xow  the  sense  of  human  dignity  was  the  chief  moral 
nirent  of  antiquity,  and  the  sense  of  sin  of  medievalism  ;  and 

1  See  some  striking  remarks  on  this  in  Fronde's  Rentes  if  of  faith,  pp. 
160,  161. 

1  What,  for  example,  could  be  more  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  modern 
Evangelical  party,  which  is  supposed  by  some  to  represent  the  Puritanism  of 
the  J7th  century,  than  those  noble  lines  of  the  great  poet  of  the  latter  ? — 
'  Mortals  !  who  would  follow  me, 
Love  virtue,  ,-hi>  alone  is  free  : 
She  can  teach  ye  ho\v  to  climb 
Higher  than  the  sphery  chime  ! 
Or,  if  virtue  feeble  were, 
Heaven  it:-elf  would  stoop  to  her.' — Comus. 


198  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOPE. 

although  it  is  probable  that  the  most  splendid  actions  have 
been  performed  by  men  who  were  exclusively  under  the  in- 
fluence of  one  or  other  of  these  sentiments,  the  concurrence 
of  both  is  obviously  essential  to  the  well-being  of  society,  for 
ihe  first  is  the  especial  source  of  the  heroic,  and  the  second  of 
the  religious,  virtues.  The  first  produces  the  qualities  of  a 
patriot,  and  the  second  the  qualities  of  a  saint.  In  the  mid- 
dle ages,  the  saintly  type  being  the  standard  of  perfection, 
the  heroic  type  was  almost  entirely  unappreciated.  The 
nearest  approach  to  it  was  exhibited  by  the  Crusader,  whose 
valour  was  nevertheless  all  subordinated  to  superstition,  and 
whose  whole  career  was  of  the  nature  of  a  penance.  The 
want  of  sympathy  between  the  two  periods  was  so  great 
that  for  the  space  of  many  centuries,  during  which  Latin  was 
the  habitual  language  of  literature,  the  great  classical  works 
scarcely  exercised  any  appreciable  influence.  Sometimes  men 
attempted  to  mould  them  into  the  image  of  the  mediaeval 
conceptions,  and  by  the  wildest  and  most  fantastic  allegories 
to  impart  to  them  an  interest  they  did  not  otherwise  possess. 
Thus  Troy,  according  to  one  monkish  commentator,  signified 
Hell,  Helen  the  human  soul.  Paris  the  Devil,  Ulysses  Christ, 
and  Achilles  the  Holy  Ghost.  Action  torn  by  his  own 
dogs  was  an  emblem  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ ;  the  Kubi- 
con  was  an  image  of  Baptism.1  It  was  not  till  the  revival 
of  learning  had  been  considerably  advanced  that  a  percep- 
!ion  of  the  nobility  of  the  heroic  character  dawned  upon 
•.nen's  minds.  Then  for  the  first  time  the  ecclesiastical  type 
\vas  obscured,  a  new  standard  and  aspiration  was  manifested; 

1  ribrnriu,  &:MWnta  1\>1  !/!••«  Jd  Jfr'Jto  Ero,  vol.  ii.  p.  2 -IT  (I'd  CM]  ). 
Tliis  tendency  was  turned  to  ridieule  by  Ulrk-h  von  llnttun  in  a  very  witty 
but  very  protane  adaptation  of  tlie  Fables  of  Ovid  to  the  Clin.-tian  history 
(Epist/Afu  Olwm-ijrt'i,,.  Ylrwum  [London,  108?'],  pp.  lu:j-107j,  airl  al>o  br 
Rabelais. 


THE   SECULARISATION    OF   POLITICS.  199 

and  popular  enthusiasm,  taking  a  new  direction,  achieved 
that  political  liberty  which  once  created  intensified  the  ten- 
dency that  produced  it. 

We  cannot  have  a  better  example  of  this  passionate  aspi- 
ration towards  political  liberty  than  is  furnished  by  the  trea- 
tise 'On  Voluntary  Servitude,'  or,  as  it  was  afterwards 
called,  the  '  Coutre-un,'  J  of  La  Boetie.  This  writer,  who 
was  one  of  the  most  industrious  labourers  in  the  classical 
field,  never  pauses  to  examine  the  origin  of  government,  or  to 
adjudicate  between  conflicting  theologians ;  but  he  assumes 
at  once,  as  a  fact  that  is  patent  to  the  conscience,  that  the 
subordination  of  the  interests  of  a  nation  to  the  caprices  of 
a  man  is  an  abuse,  and  that  the  great  heroes  of  antiquity  are 
deserving  of  imitation.  The  '  Contre-un  '  is  throughout  one 
fiery  appeal — so  fiery  indeed  that  Montaigne,  who  published 
all  the  other  works  of  La  Boetie,  refused  to  publish  this — to 
the  people  to  cast  off  their  oppressors.  It  reads  like  the  de- 
clamations of  the  revolutionists  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
'  Wretched  and  insensate  people,'  writes  the  author,  '  enam- 
oured of  your  misery  and  blind  to  your  interests,  you  suifer 
your  property  to  be  pillaged,  your  fields  devastated,  your 
houses  stripped  of  their  goods,  and  all  this  by  one  whom  you 
have  yourselves  raised  to  power,  and  whose  dignity  you 
maintain  with  your  lives !  lie  who  crushes  you  has  but  two 
eyes,  but  two  hands,  but  one  body.  All  that  he  has  move 
than  you  comes  from  you.  Yours  are  the  many  eves  that 
spy  your  acts,  the  many  hands  that  strike  you,  the  many  feet 
that  trample  you  in  the  dust  :  all  the  power  with  which  ho 

1  The  name  was  givrn  durinic  the  life  of  Montaigne,  who  praised  it, 
^  £*««**•,  liv.  i.  e.  lit.)  La  r>(!etie,  unfortunate!} ,  died  when  only  in  his  thiriy- 
Eccoiul  year,  and  nearly  all  his  works  appear  to  have  been  pi'Sihmnou:* 
They  have  all  been  republishetl  at  .Paris,  by  Leon  Fouler'1,  in  ISIti, 


200  BATIOXALISM   INT   EUROPE. 

injures  you  is  your  own.  From  indignities  that  the  beasts 
themselves  would  not  endure  you  can  free  yourselves  by  sim- 
ply willing  it.  Resolve  to  serve  no  more,  and  you  are  free. 
Withdraw  your  support  from  the  Colossus  that  crushes  you, 
and  it  will  crumble  in  the  dust Think  of  the  bat- 
tles of  Miltiades,  of  Leonidas,  and  of  Themistocles,  which, 
after  two  thousand  years,  are  as  fresh  in  the  minds  of  men  as 
though  they  were  of  yesterday ;  for  they  were  the  triumphs 

not   so  much  of  Greece  as  of  liberty All  other 

goods  men  will  labour  to  obtain,  but  to  liberty  alone  they 
are  indifferent,  though  where  it  is  not  every  evil  follows,  and 

every  blessing  loses  its  charm Yet  we  were  all 

moulded  in  the  same  die,  all  born  in  freedom  as  brothers, 
born  too  with  a  love  of  liberty  Avhich  nothing  but  our  vices 
has  effaced.' 

During  the  last  century  language  of  this  kind  has  by  con 
stunt  repetition  lost  so  much  of  its  force  that  we  can  scarcely 
realise  the  emotions  it  kindled  when  it  possessed  the  fresh- 
ness of  novelty,  and  in  a  nation  convulsed  by  the  paroxysms 
of  civil  war.  The  French  Protestants  in  1578  adopted  the 
'  Contre-un '  as  one  of  the  most  effectual  means  of  arousing 
the  people  to  resistance,1  and  as  late  as  1830  Lamennais  made 
its  republication  the  first  measure  of  his  democratic  crusade. 
In  the  history  of  literature  it  will  always  occupy  a  prominent 
place  on  account  of  the  singular  beauty  of  its  language,  while 
in  the  history  of  Rationalism  it  is  remarkable  as  one  of  the 
clearest  illustrations  of  the  tendency  of  the  classical  writ- 
ings to  foster  and  at  the  same  time  secularise  ihe  spirit  of 
liberty. 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  201 

Owing  to  the  influences  I  have  endeavoured  tu  trace,  the 
ascendency  theology  had  so  long  exercised  over  politics  was 
during  the  religious  wars  materially  weakened,  while  at  the 
Baine  time  the  aspiration  towards  liberty  was  greatly 
strengthened.  During  the  comparative  torpor  that  followed 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  and  still  more  after  the  revocation 
of  the  Edict  of  Xantes,  the  struggle  was  for  a  time  sus- 

7  OO 

pended  ;  and  it  was  not  till  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  that  the  question  of  the  rights  of  nations  reappeared 
prominently  in  France — this  time,  however,  not  under  the 
auspices  of  the  theologians,  but  of  the  freethinkers.  But,  be- 
fore reviewing  the  principles  that  were  then  urged,  it  is 
necessary  to  notice  for  a  moment  the  chief  causes  that  were 
preparing  the  people  for  liberty,  and  without  which  no  argu- 
ments and  no  heroism,  could  have  triumphed. 

The  first  of  these  was  the  increase  of  wealth.  "Whatever 
may  be  the  case  Avith  small  communities  and  under  special 
circumstances,  it  is  certain  that,  as  a  general  rule,  large 
masses  of  people  can  only  enjoy  political  liberty  when  the 
riches  of  the  country  have  considerably  increased.  In  the 
early  periods  of  civilisation,  when  capital  is  very  scanty,  and 
when,  owing  to  the  absence  of  machines  and  of  commerce, 
the  results  of  labour  are  extremely  small,  slavery  in  one  form 
or  another  is  the  inevitable  condition  of  the  masses.  The 
abject  poverty  in  which  they  live  casts  them  helplessly  upon 
the  few  who  are  wealthy  ;  wages  sink  to  a  point  that  is 
barely  sufficient  for  the  sustenance  of  life,  and  social  progress 
becomes  impossible.  '  If  the  hammer  and  the  shuttle  could 
move  themselves,'  said  Aristotle,  '  slavery  would  be  unneces- 
sary;' and  machinery  having  virtually  fulfilled  the  condition, 
the  predicted  result  has  followed.1  The  worst  and  most  de- 


202  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

grading  forms  of  labour  being  performed  by  machinery,  pro 
duction,  and  consequently  capital,  have  been  immensely  in- 
creased, and,  progress  becoming  possible,  a  middle  class  lias 
been  formed.  Commerce  not  only  gives  an  additional  devel- 
opment to  this  class,  but  also  forms  a  bond  of  union  con- 
necting the  different  parts  of  the  country.  The  roads  that 
are  formed  for  the  circulation  of  wealth  become  the  channels 
of  the  circulation  of  ideas,  and  render  possible  that  simul- 
taneous action  upon  which  all  liberty  depends. 

The  next  great  cause  of  liberty  was  the  increase  of  knowl- 
edge. And  here  again  we  may  discern  the  evidence  of  that 
inexorable  fatality  which  for  so  many  centuries  doomed  man- 
kind alike  to  superstition  and  to  slavery,  until  the  great  in- 
ventions of  the  human  intellect  broke  the  chain.  When  we 
hear  men  dilating  upon  the  degrading  superstitions  of  Ca- 
tholicism, marvelling  how  a  creed  that  is  so  full  of  gross  and 
material  conceptions  could  win  belief,  and  denouncing  it  as 
an  apostasy  and  an  error,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  for  1,500 
years  after  the  establishment  of  the  Christian  religion  it  was 
intellectually  and  morally  impossible  that  any  religion  that 
was  not  material  and  superstitious  could  have  reigned  over 
Europe.  Protestantism  could  not  possibly  have  existed 
without  a  general  diffusion  of  the  Bible,  and  that  diffusion 
was  impossible  until  after  the  two  inventions  of  paper  and 
of  printing.  As  lung  as  the  material  of  books  was  so  expen- 
sive that  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  sacrifice  thousands  of 
the  ancient  manuscripts  in  order  to  cover  the  parchment  with 
new  writing,  as  long  as  the  only  way  of  covering  those 
parchments  was  by  the  slow  and  laborious  process  of  tran- 
scription, books,  and  therefore  the  knowledge  of  reading, 
were  necessarily  confined  to  an  infinitesimal  fraction  of  the 
community.  Pictures  and  other  material  images,  which  a 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  203 

Council  of  Arras  well  called  tlie  '  Book  of  the  Ignorant,' 
were  then  the  chief  means  of  religious  instruction,  not  simply 
because  oral  instruction  without  the  assistance  of  IK  oks  was 
manifestly  insufficient,  but  also  because,  in  a  period  when  the 
intellectual  discipline  of  reading  is  unknown,  the  mind  is  in- 
capable of  grasping  conceptions  that  are  not  clothed  in  a 
pictorial  form.  To  those  who  will  observe,  on  the  one  hand, 
how  invariably  the  mediaeval  intellect  materialised  every  de- 
partment of  knowledge  it  touched,  and  on  the  other  hand 
how  manifestly  the  peculiar  tenets  of  Catholicism  are  formed 
either  by  the  process  of  materialising  the  intellectual  and 
moral  conceptions  of  Christianity  or  else  by  legitimate  de- 
ductions from  those  tenets  when  materialised — to  those  who 
still  further  observe  how  every  great  theological  movement, 
either  of  progress  or  of  retrogression,  has  been  preceded  by  a 
corresponding  change  in  the  intellectual  condition  of  society, 
it  will  appear  evident  that  nothing  short  of  a  continued  mir- 
acle could  have  produced  a  lasting  triumph  of  Christian  ideas 
except  under  some  such  form  as  Catholicism  presents.  It 
was  no  doubt  possible  that  small  communities  like  the  \Yal- 
denses,  shut  out  from  the  general  movement  of  the  age,  in 
spired  by  very  strong  enthusiasm,  and  under  the  constant 
supervision  of  zealous  pastors,  might  in  some  small  degree 
rise  above  the  prevailing  materialism;  but  when  we  remem- 
ber how  readily  nations,  considered  as  wholes,  always  yield 
to  the  spirit  of  the  time,  and  how  extremely  little  the  gen- 
erality of  men  strive  against  the  natural  bias  of  their  minds, 
it  will  easily  be  conceived  that  the  great  mass  of  men  must 
have  inevitably  gravitated  to  materialism.  When  undei 
fuch  circumstances  a  spiritual  faith  exists,  it  exists  only  ad 
the  appanage  of  the  few,  and  can  exercise  no  intluetice  or 
control  over  the  people. 


204:  RATIONALISM   IK   EUROPE. 

But  while  superstition  is  thus  the  inevitable,  and  there- 
fore the  legitimate  condition  of  an  early  civilisation,  the 
same  causes  that  make  it  necessary  render  impossible  the 
growth  of  political  liberty.  Neither  the  love  of  freedom  nor 
the  capacity  of  self-government  can  exist  in  a  great  nation 
that  is  plunged  in  ignorance.  Political  liberty  was  in  an- 
cient times  almost  restricted  to  cities  like  Athens  and  Rome, 
where  public  life,  and  art,  and  all  the  intellectual  influences 
that  were  concentrated  in  a  great  metropolis,  could  raise  the 
people  to  an  exceptional  elevation.  In  the  middle  ages, 
servitude  was  mitigated  by  numerous  admirable  institutions, 
most  of  which  emanated  from  the  Church;  but  the  elements 
of  self-government  could  only  subsist  in  countries  that  were 
so  small  that  the  proceedings  of  the  central  government  came 
under  the  immediate  cognisance  of  the  whole  people.  Else- 
where the  chief  idea  that  was  attached  to  liberty  was  free- 
dom from  a  foreign  yoke.  It  was  only  by  the  slow  and  diffi- 
cult penetration  of  knowledge  to  the  masses  that  a  movement 
like  that  of  the  eighteenth  century  became  possible;  and  we 
may  distinctly  trace  the  steps  of  its  evolution  through  a  long 
series  of  preceding  centuries.  The  almost  simultaneous  in- 
troduction into  Europe  from  the  East  of  cotton-paper  by  the 
Greeks  and  by  the  floors,  the  invention  of  rag-paper  at  the 
end  of  the  tenth  century,  the  extension  of  the  area  of  instruc- 
tion by  the  substitution  of  universities  for  monasteries  as  the 
centres  of  education,  the  gradual  formation  of  modern  lan- 
guages, the  invention  of  printing  in  the  middle  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  the  stimulus  given  to  education  by  the 
numerous  controversies  the  Reformation  forced  upon  the  at- 
tention of  all  classes,  the  additional  inducement  to  learn  to 
read  arising  among  Protestants  from  the  position  assigned  to 
the  Bible,  and  in  a  less  degree  among  Catholics  from  the 


THE   SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  205 

extraordinary  popularity  of  the  "  Imitation "  of  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  the  steady  reduction  in  the  price  of  books  as  the 
new  art  was  perfected,  the  abandonment  of  a  dead  language 
as  the  vehicle  of  instruction,  the  simplification  of  style  and 
arguments  which  brought  knowledge  down  to  the  masses, 
the  sceptical  movement  which  diverted  that  knowledge  from 
theological  to  political  channels,  were  all  among  the  antece- 
dents of  the  Revolution.  ~\Vrhen  knowledge  becomes  so  gen- 
eral that  a  large  proportion  of  the  people  take  a  lively  and 
constant  interest  in  the  management  of  the  State,  the  time 
is  at  hand  when  the  bounds  of  the  Constitution  will  be 
enlarged. 

A  third  great  revolution  favourable  to  liberty  is  to  be 
found  in  the  history  of  the  art  of  war.  In  the  early  stages 
of  civilisation  military  achievements  are,  next  to  religion,  the 
chief  source  of  dignity,  and  the  class  which  is  most  distin- 
guished in  battle  is  almost  necessarily  the  object  of  the  most 
profound  respect.  Before  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  a 
horseman  in  armour  being  beyond  all  comparison  superior 
to  a  loot-soldier,  the  whole  stress  of  battle  fell  upon  the  cav- 
alry, who  belonged  exclusively  to  the  upper  classes — in  the 
first  instance  because  the  great  expense  of  the  equipment 
could  only  be  met  by  the  rich,  and  in  the  next  place  because 
express  laws  excluded  plebeians  from  its  ranks.  It  is,  how- 
ever, well  worthy  of  notice  that  in  this  respect  the  position 
of  the  English  was  exceptional.  Although  St.  George,  who 
was  the  object  of  extreme  reverence  throughout  the  middle 
ages  as  the  patron  saint  of  cavalry,  was  also  the  patron  saint 
of  England,  the  skill  of  the  English  archers  was  so  great  that 
they  rapidly  rose  to  European  fame,  and  obtained  a  position 
which  in  other  countries  belonged  exclusively  to  the  horse- 
men. In  all  the  old  battles  the  chivalry  of  France  and  tht1 


206  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

yeomen  of  England  were  the  most  prominent  figures ;  and 
this  distinction,  trivial  as  it  may  now  appear,  had  probably  a 
considerable  influence  over  the  history  of  opinions. 

"With  this  exception,  the  ascendency  of  the  cavalry  in  the 
middle  ages  was  unquestionable,  but  it  was  not  altogether 
undisputed ;  and  it  is  curious  to  trace  from  a  very  distant 
period  the  slow  rise  of  the  infantry  accompanying  the  pro- 
gress of  democracy.  The  Flemish  burghers  brought  this 
force  to  considerable  perfection,  and  in  the  battle  of  Courtray 
their  infantry  defeated  the  cavalry  opposed  to  them.  A 
similar  achievement  was  performed  by  the  Swiss  infantry  in 
the  battle  of  Morgarten.  The  French  had  always  treated 
their  own  foot-soldiers  with  extreme  contempt;  but  Crecy 
and  Poitiers  having  been  mainly  won  by  the  English  archers, 
a  slight  revulsion  of  feeling  took  place,  and  great  though  not 
very  successful  efforts  were  made  to  raise  a  rival  corps.  For 
some  time  after  the  battle  of  Poitiers  all  games  except  arch- 
ejy  were  prohibited  in  France.  More  than  once,  too,  in 
their  combats  with  the  English,  the  French  cavalry  were 
compelled  to  dismount  and  endure  what  they  conceived  the 
degradation  of  fighting  on  foot,  and  the  same  practice  was 
frequent  among  the  free-lances  of  Italy  under  the  leadership 
of  Sir  John  Ilawkwood  and  of  Carmagnola. 

The  invention  of  gunpowder,  as  soon  as  fire-arms  had  ac- 
quired some  degree  of  excellence,  seriously  shook  the  ascen- 
dency of  the  cavalry.  The  mounted  soldier  was  no  longer 
almost  invulnerable  by  .the  foot-soldier,  or  his  prowess  deci- 
sive in  battle.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this  change,  the  social 
distinction  between  the  two  branches  of  the  army  which 
chivalry1  had  instituted  continued;  the  cavalry  still  repre- 
sented the  upper  and  the  infantry  the  lower  classes,  and  in 

1  Cilivalry  (eheviil). 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF    POLITICS.  207 

France  the  nobles  alone  had  a  right  to  enter  the  former. 
The  comparative  depression  of  the  military  importance  of  the 
cavalry  had  therefore  the  effect  of  transferring  in  a  measure 
the  military  prestige  from  the  nobles  to  the  people.  For 
gome  time  the  balance  trembled  very  evenly  between  tho 
two  forces,  until  the  invention  of  the  bayonet  by  Yauban 
gave  the  infantry  a  decided  superiority,  revolutionised  the  art 
of  war.  and  thereby  influenced  the  direction  of  enthusiasm.1 

The  last  general  tendency  I  shall  mention  was  produced 
by  the  discoveries  of  political  economy.  Liberty  cannot  be 
attained  without  a  jealous  restriction  of  the  province  of  gov- 
ernment, and  indeed  may  be  said  in  a  great  measure  to  con- 
sist of  such  a  restriction.  The  process  since  the  Reformation 
has  passed  through  two  distinct  stages.  The  first,  which 
was  effected  mainly  by  the  diffusion  of  Rationalism,  was  the 
triumph  of  tolerance,  by  which  the  vast  field  of  speculative 
opinions  was  withdrawn  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  civil 
power.  The  second,  which  was  effected  by  political  econ- 
omy, was  free-trade,  by  which  the  evil  of  the  interference  of 
government  with  commercial  transactions  was  proved.  This 
last  proposition,  which  was  one  of  the  most  important,  was 
also  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  achievements  of  political  econ- 


1  On  the  earlier  part  of  the  history  of  the  comparative  importance  of 
cavalry  and  infantry,  see  the  very  clear  account  in  a  work  of  the  present 
French  Emperor,  Du  Passe  et  de  rAvcnir  dc  r  Arllllcrle  ;  and  on  the  later 
part,  and  especially  on  the  influence  of  Vauban,  the  brilliant  sketch  of  the 
revolutions  in  the  art  of  war  in  the  last  volume  of  Thiers'  Ilht.  dc  V Empire. 
M.  Thiers  has  made  some  striking  remarks  on  the  effects  of  the  sceptica 
ni'ivcnnut  of  the  eighteenth  century  upon  war — disturbing  the  old  traditions 
of  the  art,  and  culminating  in  the  innovations  of  Napoleon.  The  democratic 
importance  of  the  ascendency  of  infantry  has  been  noticed  by  Condorcet, 
T'tM.eaH  dc  V Esprit  Jtuntiiin,  p.  lit.  Condorcet,  however,  has  ascribed  that 
ascendency  exclusively  to  gunpowder,  ^u',  too,  Cibrario,  EcGWimi't  Pv^lica 
de!  Mcd'to  Evo,  torn.  i.  pp.  3o4,  :3o5. 


208  RATIONALISM   IK   EUROPE. 

omists,  for  it  was  ardently  professed  by  the  French  school 
nearly  twenty  years  before  the  publication  of  the  '  Wealth 
of  Xations ; '  and  as  the  catastrophe  of  Law  and  the  minis- 
terial position  of  Turgot  directed  public  opinion  in  France 
very  earnestly  towards  economical  questions,  it  exercised  an 
extensive  influence.  Many  who  were  comparatively  imper- 
vious to  the  more  generous  enthusiasm  of  liberty  became  by 
these  enquiries  keenly  sensible  of  the  evil  of  an  all-directing 
government,  and  anxious  to  abridge  its  power.1 

There  were  of  course  innumerable  special  circumstances, 
growing  out  of  the  policy  of  the  French  rulers,  which  accel- 
erated or  retarded  the  advance  or  influenced  the  character  of 
the  Revolution.  The  foregoing  pages  have  no  pretension  to 
be  a  complete  summary  of  its  antecedents,  but  they  may 
serve  to  show  that  a  revolutionary  movement  of  some  kind 
was  the  normal  result  of  the  tendencies  of  the  age,  that  its 
chief  causes  are  to  be  sought  entirely  outside  the  discussions 
of  political  philosophers,  and  that  the  rise  of  great  republican 
writers,  the  principles  they  enunciated,  and  the  triumph  of 
their  arguments  were  all  much  more  the  consequences  than 
the  causes  of  the  democratic  spirit.  In  other  words,  these 
men  were  rather  representative  than  creative.  But  for  the 
preceding  movement  they  would  never  have  appeared,  or,  at 
least,  would  never  have  triumphed,  although  when  they  ap- 
peared they  undoubtedly  modified  and  in  a  measure  directed 
the  moveinent  that  produced  them.  The  change  must  neces- 
sarily have  taken  place,  but  it  was  a  question  of  great  impor- 
tance into  whose  hands  its  guidance  was  to  fall. 

If  we  take  a  broad  view  of  the  history  of  liberty  since  the 
establishment  of  Christianity,  we  find  that  the  ground  of 

1  This  has  been  riotic-fl  by  imaiy  political  eeonomi-t.-,  but  by  no  one 
more  ably  than  bv  Mr.  Hueklr. 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  200 

conflict  was  at  first  personal  and  at  a  later  period  political 
liberty,  and  that  in  the  earlier  stage  the  Catholic  Church  was 
the  special  representative  of  progress.  In  the  transition  from 
slavery  to  serfdom,  and  in  the  transition  from  serfdom  to  lib- 
erty, she  was  the  most  zealous,  the  most  unwearied,  and  the 
most  efficient  agent.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the 
earliest  period  of  the  political  evolution.  As  long  as  the 
condition  of  society  was  such  that  an  enlarged  political  lib- 
erty was  impossible,  as  long  as  the  object  was  not  so  much 
to  produce  freedom  as  to  mitigate  servitude,  the  Church  was 
still  the  champion  of  the  people.  The  balance  of  power  pro- 
duced by  the  numerous  corporations  she  created  or  sanc- 
tioned, the  reverence  for  tradition  resulting  from  her  teach- 
ing, which  perpetuated  a  network  of  unwritten  customs  with 
the  force  of  public  law,  the  dependence  of  the  civil  upon  the 
ecclesiastical  power,  and  the  rights  of  excommunication  and 
deposition,  had  all  contributed  to  lighten  the  pressure  of 
despotism.  After  a  time,  however,  the  intellectual  progress 
of  society  destroyed  the  means  which  the  Church  possessed 
for  mitigating  servitude,  and  at  the  same  time  raised  the 
popular  demand  for  liberty  to  a  point  that  was  perfectly  in- 
compatible with  her  original  teaching.  The  power  of  the 
Papal  censure  was  so  weakened  that  it  could  scarcely  be 
reckoned  upon  as  a  political  influence,  and  all  the  compli- 
cated checks  and  counter-checks  of  mediaeval  society  were 
swept  away.  On  the  other  hand,  the  struggle  for  political 
liberty  in  its  widest  sense — the  desire  to  make  the  will  of  the 
people  the  basis  of  the  government — tl.e  conviction  that  a 
nation  has  a  right  to  alter  a  government  that  opposes  its 
sentiments — has  become  the  great  characteristic  of  modern 
politics.  Experience  ha-  shown  that  wherever  intellectual 
life  is  active  and  unimpeded  a  political  fermentation  will  en> 


210  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOPE. 

BUR,  and  will  issue  ip  a  movement  having  for  its  object  the 
repudiation  of  the  Divine  right  of  kings,  and  the  recognition 
of  the  will  of  the  people  as  the  basis  of  the  government. 
The  current  has  been  flowing  in  this  direction  since  the  Re- 
formation, but  has  advanced  with  peculiar  celerity  since  the 
Peace  of  Westphalia,  for  since  that  event  the  desire  of  secur- 
ing a  political  ascendency  for  any  religious  sect  has  never 
been  a  preponderating  motive  with  politicians.  With  this 
new  spirit  the  Catholic  Church  cannot  possibly  harmonise. 
It  is  contrary  to  her  genius,  to  her  traditions,  and  to  her 
teaching.  Resting  upon  the  principle  of  authority,  she  in- 
stinctively assimilates  with  those  forms  of  government  that 
most  foster  the  habits  of  mind  she  inculcates.  Intensely 
dogmatic  in  her  teaching,  she  naturally  endeavours  to  arrest 
by  the  hand  of  power  the  circulation  of  what  she  believes  to 
be  error,  and  she  therefore  allies  herself  with  the  political 
system  under  which  alone  such  suppression  is  possible. 
Asserting  as  the  very  basis  of  her  teaching  the  binding 
authority  of  the  past,  she  cannot  assent  to  political  doctrines 
which  are,  in  fact,  a  direct  negation  of  the  uniform  teaching 
of  the  ancient  Church.1  In  the  midst  of  the  fierce  struggle 
of  the  sixteenth  century  isolated  theologians  might  be  per- 
mitted without  censure  to  propound  doctrines  of  a  seditious 
nature,  but  it  was  impossible  ultimately  to  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  modern  secularisation  of  the  basis  of  authority  and 
Llie  modern  latitude  given  to  a  discontented  people  are  di- 
rectly contrary  to  the  teaching  of  the  Fathers,  and  extend 

1  A.-!  a  distinii'uisliod  Anglican  divine  of  our  own  day  has  put  it,  'It.  is  idle, 
iind  worse  than  idle,  to  attempt  to  restrict  and  explain  away  this  positive 
command  ("  Ke-Nt  not  evil"),  and  the  Christian  Church  has  always  upheld  it 
in  its  full  extent,  With  one  itirifonn  unhesitating  voice  it  lias  proclaime 
July  <>f  passive  >beilience,'  (Sewell,  Christian  Politics,  eh.  x.) 


THE   SECULAKISATION   OF   POLITICS.  211 

far  beyond  the  teaching  of  the  mediaeval  theologians.1  The 
fact  that  modern  opinions  have  been  in  a  measure  evolved 
from  the  speculations  of  the  schoolmen,  or  that  the  school- 
men were  the  liberals  of  their  time,  though  important  in  tho 
judgment  of  the  rationalist,  is  of  no  weight  in  the  eyes  of 
those  who  assert  the  finality  of  the  teaching  of  the  past. 

The  natural  incapacity  of  Catholicism  to  guide  the  demo- 
cratic movement  had  in  the  eighteenth  century  been  aggra- 
vated by  the  extremely  low  ebb  to  which  it  had  fallen,  both 
intellectually  and  morally.  Nearly  all  the  greatest  French 
intellects  of  the  seventeenth  century  Avere  warmly  attached 
to  Catholicism  ;  all  those  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  op- 
posed to  it.  The  Church,  therefore,  like  every  retrogressive 
institution  in  a  progressive  age,  cast  herself  with  more  than 
common  zeal  into  the  arms  of  power,  and  on  every  occasion 
showed  herself  the  implacable  enemy  of  toleration.  In  1780, 
but  a  few  years  before  the  explosion  that  shattered  the  eccle- 
siastical system  of  France,  the  assembly  of  the  French  clergy 
thought  it  necessary  solemnly  to  deplore  and  condemn  the 
partial  tolerance  that  had  been  accorded  to  the  French  Prot- 
estants, and  to  petition  the  king  that  no  further  privileges 
might  be  granted  them.  Such  a  Church  was  manifestly 

1  I  have  already  refV'rretl  to  the  bull  of  Gregory  XVI.  attesting  this  con- 
tradiction. I  may  add  the  following  admission  of  a  writer  \vlio  may  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  principal  representatives  of  the  Vltrnniontanc  party, 
which  has  always  been  the  most  liberal  in  politics: — '(^unique  nous  tombion-) 
d'accord  quo  la  source  on  1'originc  de  la  puissance  pnblique  reside  dans  la 
multitude,  nous  uions  cependant  qne  la  puissance  publique  etant  une  tbia 
transferee  an  prince,  le  peuple  conserve  toujours  snr  lui  un  droit  de  sou- 
veraineti''.  Nous  disr.ns,  au  contrairo,  qu'il  ne  lui  rcs.te  plus  ties  lors  quo  le 
devoir  d'obeir,  ct  qu'il  nVxistc  qu'uu  cas  ou  il  puisse  se  soustraire  a  cette 
obei.-sance,  comme  eu  convienncnt  les  plus  anlcnis  dcfenseurs  de  la  puissance, 
royalc,  savoir,  celui  ou  le  prince  deviendrait  lYnnem!  public  et  declare  de 
tout  son  peuple,  et  on  il  chcrcherait  a  detniire  la  societe  civile.'  ( Iliauchi, 
iom.  i.  p.  84.) 


212 


KATIOSTAL1SM   IN    EUROPE. 


identified  with  despotism,  and  having  repeatedly  asserted  the 
evil  of  toleration  she  had  no  right  to  complain  when  the 
Revolutionists  treated  her  according  to  her  principles.1 

Catholicism  having  thus  become  the  representative  of 
despotism,  and  French  Protestantism  having  sunk  into  insig- 
nificance, the  guidance  of  the  democratic  movement  neces- 
sarily passed  into  the  hands  of  the  freethinkers..  In  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  movement,  when  liberty  was  evolved 
from  the  religious  wars,  they  had  usually  stood  aloof.  Thus 
Faustus  Socinus  had  predicted  that  the  seditious  doctrines 
by  which  the  Protestants  supported  their  cause  would  lead 
to  the  dissolution  of  society,  and  in  denouncing  them  he  es- 
pecially singled  out  for  condemnation  the  noble  struggle  of 
the  Dutch  against  Spain.*  Montaigne,  though  Buchanan  had 
been  his  tutor  andLaBoetie  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends, 
always  leaned  strongly  towards  political  conservatism.  His 
disciple  Charron  went  still  further,  and  distinctly  asserted 
the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience.8  Bayle,  too,  exerted  all 
his  influence  in  discouraging  the  revolutionary  tenets  of 
Juvieu.4  Xor  was  there  anything  extraordinary  in  this,  for 

1  See,  for  some  striking  evidence  of  these  sentiments,  the  Discours  par 
un  Ministre  Patriot  sur  le  projct  d'accordcr  Vltat  civil  aux  Protestants,  by 
the  Abbe  de  L'Enfert  (Paris,  1787). 

2  Bayle,  Diet.,  art.  Faustus  Socinus,  Remarque  c. 

3  La  Saycsse,  p.  iii. 

4  Many  have  ascribed  the  Avis  aiix  Rcfugicz  to  Bayle.     The  charge,  how- 
ever, seems  (as  far  as  I  know)  destitute  of  external  evidence,  and,  consider- 
ing the  great  zeal  with  which  Bayle  threw  himself  into  the  defence  of  the 
Calvinists  when  they  were  attacked  by  Maimbourg,  is  rather  improbable. 
Arguments  of  style  are  very  untrustworthy,  because  a  great  writer  always 
produces  many  imitators,  and  Bayle's  style  was  by  no  means  difficult  to 
imitate.     However,  Bayle's  aversion  to  democratic  theories  pervades  all  hia 
works,  and  Dnllam  says  the  presumption  is  strongly  in  favour  of  his  having 
written  the  Avis,  while  Gibbon  and  Mackintosh  speak  of  it  as  certainly  his. 
Voltaire,  as  is  •well  known,  has  a  far  deeper  stain  upon  his  memory — a  dark 
damning  stain  which  all  his  splendid  services  can  never  efface  :  he  applauded 
the  partition  of  Poland. 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  213 

the  aspect  Europe  presented  in  their  time  might  well  have 
appalled  any  spectator  who  was  exempt  from  the  prevailing 
fanaticism.  All  the  bonds  of  cohesion  upon  which  the  po- 
litical organisation  depended  were  weakened  or  destroyed. 
The  spirit  of  private  judgment  had  descended  to  those  who 
by  ignorance  or  long  servitude  were  totally  incapable  of 
self-government,  and  it  had  lashed  their  passions  to  the  wild- 
est fury.  Patriotism  seemed  to  have  almost  vanished  from 
Christendom.  X either  Catholics  nor  Protestants  deemed  it 
the  least  disgraceful  to  call  down  a  foreign  invasion  upon 
their  land,  to  trample  its  interests  in  the  dust,  and  to  avow 
the  warmest  sympathy  for  its  enemies.  Religion,  which  had 
so  long  formed  the  basis  of  order,  inspired  the  combatants 
with  the  fiercest  hatred,  and  transformed  every  vice  into  a 
virtue.  While  a  pope  was  causing  medals  to  be  struck  in 
honour  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  enjoining 
Vasari  to  paint  the  scene  upon  the  walls  of  the  Vatican ; 
while  the  murderer  of  Henry  III.  was  extolled  as  a  martyr, 
and  writings  defending  his  act  were  scattered  broadcast 
among  the  people ;  while  the  conflagration  spreading  from 
land  to  land  absorbed  or  eclipsed  all  other  causes  of  dissen- 
sion, blasted  the  material  prosperity  of  Europe,  and  threat- 
ened a  complete  dissolution  of  almost  all  political  structures, 
it  was  not  surprising  that  the  freethinkers,  who  stood  apart 
from  the  conflict,  should  have  sought  at  any  risk  to  consoli 
date  the  few  remaining  elements  of  order.  l>ut  in  the 
eighteenth  century  their  position  and  the  circumstances  that 
surrounded  them  were  both  changed  ;  and  the  writings  of 
Rousseau  and  of  his  disciples  proved  the  trumpet-blast  of 
that  great  revolution  which  shattered  the  political  system 
of  France,  and  the  influence  of  which  is  even  now  vibrating 
to  the  furthest  limits  of  civilisation. 


214  RATIONALISM    IN    EUEOPE. 

It  has  been  said1  that  while  the  Revolution  of  England 
)ore  in  its  womb  the  liberty  of  England,  the  Revolution  of 
France  bore  that  of  the  world ;  and  those  who  have  traced 
the  long  series  of  political  changes  already  effected  will 
scarcely  deem  the  boast  an  hyperbole.  All  around  us  the 
spirit  of  that  Revolution  is  permeating  the  masses  of  the 
people  with  its  regenerating  power.  Many  ancient  despotism? 
have  already  crumbled  beneath  its  touch;  others  are  even 
IIOAV  convulsed  by  the  agonies  of  transformation,  or  by  the 
last  paroxysms  of  a  despairing  resistance.  Every  form  of 
government  in  which  the  nation  does  not  actively  participate 
is  recognised  as  transitory,  and  every  sagacious  despot  keeps 
the  prospect  of  future  liberty  continually  before  his  people. 
The  resurrection  of  nations  is  the  miracle  of  our  age.  All 
the  power  of  standing  armies  and  of  protecting  laws,  all  the 
treaties  of  diplomatists  and  the  untiring  vigilance  of  strong- 
willed  despots,  have  been  unable  to  arrest  it.  The  treaties 
have  been  torn,  the  armies  have  been  scattered,  the  spirit  of 
liberty  has  survived.  The  doctrine  of  nationalities,  by  the 
confession  of  its  keenest  adversaries,  has  now  '  almost  ac- 
[uired  the  force  of  public  law ; ' 2  it  has  annulled  the  most 
solemn  international  obligations,  and  there  is  every  reason 
uO  believe  that  before  the  century  has  closed  it  will  be  the 
recognised  basis  of  politics. 

Assuredly  no  part  of  this  groat  change  is  due  to  any 
original  discoveries  of  Rousseau,  though  his  personal  influence 
v,  as  very  great,  and  his  genius  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  posi- 
tion he  occupied.  ITe  was  one  of  those  writers  who  are 
Eminently  destitute  of  the  judgment  that  enables  men  Avith- 

Thiers. 

*  This  was,  if  I  remember  right,  the  expression  of  Cardinal  Ai.tonelli  in 
one  of  his  despatches. 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  215 

out  exaggeration  to  discriminate  between  truth  and  false- 
hood, and  yet  eminently  endowed  with  that  logical  faculty 
which  enables  them  to  defend  the  opinions  they  have  em- 
braced. No  one  plunged  more  recklessly  into  paradox,  or 
supported  those  paradoxes  with  more  consummate  skill.  At 
the  same  time  the  firmness  with  which  he  grasped  and 
developed  general  principles,  and  that  wonderful  fusion  of 
passion  and  argument  which  constitutes  the  preeminent 
beauty  of  his  style,  gave  his  eloquence  a  transcendent  power 
in  a  revolutionary  age.  Xothing  is  more  curious  than  to 

*/        o  o 

observe  how  the  revolt  against  the  empire  of  conventionali- 
ties of  which  he  was  the  apostle  penetrated  into  all  parts  of 
French  society,  revolutionising  even  those  which  seemed 
most  remote  from  his  influence.  It  was  shown  in  fashionable 
assemblies  in  a  disregard  for  social  distinctions,  for  decora- 
tions, and  for  attire,  that  had  for  centuries  been  unknown  in 
France.  It  was  shown  in  the  theatre,  where  Talma,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  great  revolutionary  painter  David,  banished 
fiom  the  French  stage  the  custom  of  representing  the  heroes 
of  Greece  and  Rome  with  powdered  wigs  and  in  the  garb  of 
Ihe  courtiers  of  Versailles,  and  founded  a  school  of  acting 
which  made  an  accurate  imitation  of  nature  the  first  condi- 
tion of  excellence.1  It  was  shown  even  in  the  country  houses, 
where  the  mathematical  figures,  the  long  formal  alleys 
arranged  with  architectural  symmetry,  and  the  trees  dwarfed 
and  trimmed  into  fantastic  shapes,  which  Le  Notre  had 

1  The  first  stop,  according  to  Madame  Fu.-il  (,£' wo</r,<  J'nne  .-frfr/tr,  pp. 
2Y-">4),  in  this  direction  was  taken  by  an  actress  named  Madame  Saint- 
Hubert  who  discarded  powder  and  took  the  ancient  sculptures  as  her  model: 
luit  it  was  the  genius  of  Talma,  warmly  seconded  I>y  the  antiquarians,  hj 
Uic  revolutionists,  and  especially  by  the  (iirondins,  that  finally  vanqui-h< -d  tht 
prevailing  prejudice.  The  incongruity  of  the  old  costume  has,  1  think,  Veil 
exaggerate  1 :  it  was  well  suited  to  the  (Jreeks — of  -Racine. 


216  KATIONALISM   EST   EUEOPE. 

made  the  essential  elements  of  a  French  garden,  were  sud- 
denly discarded  and  replaced  by  the  wild  and  irregular 
beauties  that  Kent  had  made  popular  in  England.1  But 
though  the  character  and  the  original  genius  of  Rousseau 
were  stamped  upon  every  feature  of  his  time,  the  doctrines 
of  tbe  '  Social  Contract '  are  in  all  essentials  borrowed  from 
Locke  and  from  Sidney,  and  where  they  diverge  from  their 
models  they  fall  speedily  into  absurdity.2  The  true  causes 
of  their  mighty  influence  are  to  be  found  in  the  condition  of 
society.  Formerly  they  had  been  advocated  with  a  view  to 
special  political  exigencies,  or  to  a  single  country,  or  to  a  sin- 
gle section  of  society.  For  the  first  time,  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  they  penetrated  to  the  masses  of  the  people,  stirred 
them  to  their  lowest  depths,  and  produced  an  upheaving  that 
was  scarcely  less  general  than  that  of  the  Reformation.  The 
history  of  the  movement  was  like  that  of  the  enchanted  well 
in  the  Irish  legend,  which  lay  for  centuries  shrouded  in  dark- 
ness in  the  midst  of  a  gorgeous  citv,  till  some  careless  hand 

O  O  ti    J 

left  open  the  door  that  had  enclosed  it,  and  the  morning  sun- 
light flashed  upon  its  waters.  Immediately  it  arose  respon- 
sive to  the  beam ;  it  burst  the  barriers  that  had  confined  it ; 
it  submerged  the  city  that  had  surrounded  it;  and  its  resist- 
less waves,  chanting  wild  music  to  heaven,  rolled  over  the 
temples  and  over  the  palaces  of  the  past. 

There  is  no  fact  more  remarkable  in  this  movement  than 
the  manner  in  which  it  has  in  many  countries  risen  to  the 
position  of  a  religion — that  is  to  say,  of  an  unselfish  enthu* 

1  See  a  singularly  curious  essay  on  the  history  of  Gardens  in  Yitet, 
rtn'jis  fur  riJiHtoire  dc  I' Art.  Le  Nutrc  laid  out  the  gardens  of  Versailles 
for  Louis  XIV. 

a  As.  for  example,  when  it  is  contended  that  a  people  with  representa- 
tive government  are  slaves,  except  during  the  period  of  the  elections.  (Con 
trat  Serial,  liv.  iii.  eh.  xv.j 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  217 

siasm  uniting  vast  bodies  of  men  in  aspiration  towards  an 
ideal,  and  proving  the  source  of  heroic  virtues.  It  is  always 
extremely  important  to  trace  the  direction  in  which  the  spirit 
of  self-sacrifice  is  moving,  for  upon  the  intensity  of  that  spirit 
depends  the  moral  elevation  of  an  age,  and  upon  its  course 
the  religious  future  of  the  world.  It  once  impelled  the  war- 
riors of  Europe  to  carry  ruin  and  desolation  to  the  wails  of 
Jerusalem,  to  inundate  the  plains  of  Palestine  with  the  blood 
of  slaughtered  thousands,  and  to  purchase  by  unparalleled 
calamities  some  relics  for  the  devotion  of  the  pilgrim.  It 
once  convulsed  Europe  with  religious  wars,  suspended  all 
pacific  operations,  and  paralysed  all  secular  interests  in  order 
to  secure  the  ascendency  of  a  church  or  of  a  creed.  It  once 
drove  tens  of  thousands  into  the  retirement  of  the  monas- 
teries ;  induced  them  to  macerate  their  bodies,  and  to  mortify 
their  affections;  to  live  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  in  cold  and 
poverty  and  privations,  that  by  such  means  they  might  attain 
their  reward.  These  things  have  now  passed  away.  The 
crusaders  sword  has  long  been  shattered,  and  his  achieve- 
ments have  been  idealised  by  the  poet  and  the  novelist.  The 
last  wave  of  the  religious  wars  that  swept  over  so  many 
lands  has  subsided  into  a  calm  that  is  broken  only  by  the 
noisy  recriminations  of  a  few  angry  polemics.  The  monastic 
system  and  the  conceptions  from  which  it  grew  are  fading 
rapidly  before  the  increasing  day.  Celibacy,  voluntary 
poverty,  and  voluntary  subjection,  were  the  three  subjects 
which  Giotto  painted  over  the  high  altar  of  Assisi  as  the 
'lislinctive  characteristics  of  tho  saint— the  efforts  of  self- 
^acritice  that  lead  to  the  beatitude  of  heaven.  All  of  them 
have  now  lost  their  power.  Even  that  type  of  heroic  gran- 
deur which  the  ancient  missionary  exhibited,  though  eulo- 
g'lM'd  and  revered,  is  scarcely  reproduced.  The  spirit  of  self 


218  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

sacrifice  still  exists,  but  it  is  to  be  sought  in  other  fields — in 
a  boundless  philanthropy  growing  out  of  affections  that  are 
common  to  all  religions,  and  above  all  in  the  sphere  of 
politics.  Liberty  and  not  theology  is  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  very  men  who  would  once  have 
boen  conspicuous  saints  are  now  conspicuous  revolutionists, 
for  while  their  heroism  and  their  disinterestedness  are  their 
own,  the  direction  these  qualities  take  is  determined  by, the 
pressure  of  their  age. 

If  we  analyse  the  democratic  ideal  whicn  is  exercising  so 
wide  an  influence,  we  find  that  it  consists  of  two  parts — a  re- 
arrangement of  the  map  of  Europe  on  the  principle  of  the 
rights  of  nationalities,  and  a  strong  infusion  of  the  democratic 
element  into  the  government  of  each  State.  The  recojmi- 

n  o 

tion  of  some  universal  principle  of  political  right  powerful 
enough  to  form  a  bond  of  lasting  concord  has  always  been  a 
favourite  dream  with  statesmen  and  philosophers.  Ililde- 
brand  sought  it  in  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual  pOAver,  and 
in  the  consequent  ascendency  of  the  moral  law;  Dante  in  the 
fusion  of  all  European  States  into  one  great  empire,  presided 
over  in  temporal  matters  by  the  Cwsars  and  in  spiritual  by 
the  Popes;  Grotius  and  Henry  IV.  of  France,  in  a  tribunal 
like  the  Amphictyonic  assembly  of  ancient  Greece,  deciding 
with  supreme  authority  international  differences;  diplomacy 
in  artificial  combinations,  and  especially  in  the  system  of  the 
balance  of  power.  The  modern  doctrine  of  the  rights  of  na- 
tionalities could  not  possibly  have  attained  any  great  impor- 
tance till  the  present  century — in  the  first  place  because  it  is 
only  alter  the  wide  diffusion  of  education  that  the  national 
sentiment  acquires  the  necessary  strength,  concentration,  and 
intelligence,  and  in  the  next  place  because  the  influence  of 
the  selfish  side  of  human  nature  was  hostile  to  it.  The  con 


THE    SECULARISATION   OF   POLITICS.  219 

ceptions  that  the  interests  of  adjoining  nations  are  diametri- 
cally opposed,  that  wealth  can  only  be  gained  by  displace- 
ment, and  that  conquest  is  therefore  the  chief  path  to  pro- 
gress, were  long  universal ;  but  during  the  last  century  po- 
litical economy  has  been  steadily  subverting  them,  and  has 
already  effected  so  much  that  it  scarcely  seems  unreasonable 
to  conclude  that  the  time  will  come  when  a  policy  of  terri- 
torial aggrandisement  will  be  impossible.  At  the  same  time 
the  extension  of  free-trade  has  undoubtedly  a  tendency  to 
effect  the  disintegration  of  great  heterogeneous  empires  by 
destroying  the  peculiar  advantages  of  colonies  and  of  con- 
qiiered  territory ;  while  railways  and  increasing  knowledge 
weaken  national  antipathies  and  facilitate  the  political  agglo- 
meration of  communities  with  a  common  race,  language,  and 
geographical  position.  The  result  of  all  this  is  that  motives 
of  self-interest  do  not  oppose  themselves  as  powerfully  as  of 
old  to  the  recognition  of  territorial  limits  defined  by  the 
wishes  of  the  people.  And  this  is  peculiarly  important,  be- 
cause not  only  does  interest,  as  distinguished  from  passion, 
gain  a  greater  empire  with  advancing  civilisation,  but  pas- 
sion itself  is  mainly  guided  by  its  power.  If,  indeed,  we  ex- 
amine only  the  proximate  causes  of  European  wars,  they 
present  the  aspect  of  a  perfect  chaos,  and  the  immense  major- 
ity might  be  ascribed  to  isolated  causes  or  to  passing  ebulli- 
tions of  national  jealousy.  But  if  we  examine  more  closely. 
we  find  that  a  decpseated  aversion  produced  by  general 
onuses  had  long  preceded  and  prepared  the  explosion.  The 
great  majority  of  wars  during  the  last  1,000  years  may  bo 
classified  under  three  heads — wars  produced  by  opposition 
of  religious  belief,  wars  resulting  from  erroneous  economical 
notions  either  concerning  the  balance  of  trade  or  the  material 
advantages  of  conquest,  and  Avars  resulting  from  the  collision 


220  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOPE. 

of  the  two  hostile  docti'ines  of  the  Divine  right  of  kings  ami 
the  rights  of  nations.  In  the  first  instance  knowledge  has 
gained  a  decisive,  and  in  the  second  almost  a  decisive,  vic- 
tory. Whether  it  will  ever  render  equally  impossible  politi- 
cal combinations  that  outrage  national  sentiment  is  one  of 
the  great  problems  of  the  future.  This  much  at  least  is  cer- 
tain, that  the  progress  of  the  movement  has  profoundly  and 
irrevocably  impaired  the  force  of  treaties  and  of  diplomatic 
arrangements  as  the  regulating  principles  of  Europe. 

But  whatever  may  be  thought  on  these  subjects,  it  is  at 
least  certain  that  the  movement  we  have  traced  has  become 
a  great  moral  influence  in  Europe,  and,  like  many  others,  ex- 
hibits a  striking  synthesis  of  the  distinctive  elements  of  two 
different  civilisations.  The  spirit  of  patriotism  has  under  its 
influence  assumed  a  position  scarcely  less  prominent  than  in 
antiquity,  while  at  the  same  time,  by  a  transformation  to 
which  almost  all  the  influences  of  modern  society  have  con- 
curred, it  has  lost  its  old  exclusiveness  without  altogether 
losing  its  identity,  and  has  assimilated  with  a  sentiment  of 
universal  fraternity.  The  sympathy  between  great  bodies 
of  men  was  never  so  strong,  the  stream  of  enthusiasm  never 
flowed  in  so  broad  a  current  as  at  present;  and  in  the  demo- 
cratic union  of  nations  we  find  the  last  and  highest  expres- 
sion of  the  Christian  ideal  of  the  brotherhood  of  mankind. 

Xor  is  it  simply  in  the  international  aspect  of  democracy 
that  we  trace  this  influence;  it  is  found  no  less  clearly  in  (lie 
changes  that  have  been  introduced  into  internal  legislation 

O 

and  social  life.  The  political  merits  of  democracy  I  do  not 
now  discuss,  but  no  one  at  least  can  question  the  extent  to 
which  legislation  has  of  late  years  been  modified  in  favour 
of  the  lower  classes,  the  sympathy  and  even  deference  that 
has  been  shown  to  their  wants,  the  rapid  obliteration  of  thp 


THE    SECULARISATION    OF    POLITICS.  22  i 

lines  of  class  divisions,  and  the  ever  increasing  tendency  to 
amalgamation  based  upon  political  equality  and  upon  en 
larged  sympathy. 

It  is  thus  that  amid  the  transformation  or  dissolution  of 
intellectual  dogmas  the  great  moral  principles  of  Christianity 
continually  reappear,  acquiring  new  power  in  the  lapse  of 
ngop,  and  influencing  the  type  of  each  pucceeding  civilisation. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  HISTOEY   OF   RATIONALISM. 

THE  history  of  labour  is  only  second  iu  importance  to  tlie 
history  of  knowledge.  The  estimate  in  which  industry  is 
held,  the  principles  by  which  it  is  regulated,  and  the  channels 
in  which  it  is  directed,  not  merely  determine  the  material 
prosperity  of  nations,  but  also  invariably  contribute  to  the 
formation  of  a  type  of  character,  and  in  consequence  to  a 
modification  of  opinions.  In  the  course  of  the  present  work 
I  have  more  than  once  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  influence 
of  the  industrial  spirit  upon  Rationalism,  but  I  have  thought 
it  advisable  to  reserve  its  full  discussion  for  a  separate  chap- 
ter, in  which  the  relation  between  the  two  evolutions  will  be 
clearly  manifested,  and  the  importance  of  commerce  both  as 
a  disintegrating  and  constructive  agent  will  be  established. 

If  we  examine  from  an  industrial  point  of  view  the  old 
civilisation,  which  was  sinking  rapidly  into  dissolution  when 
Christianity  arose,  we  shall  at  once  perceive  that  slavery 
was  the  central  fact  upon  which  it  nested.  Whenever,  in  a 
highly-organised  society,  this  institution  is  prominent,  it  will 
Impart  a  special  cast  to  the  national  character,  and  will  in 
pome  respects  invert  the  normal  conditions  of  development. 
For  labour,  being  identified  with  ignominy,  will  become  dis- 
tasteful to  all  classes,  and  wealth  will  be  speedily  accumu 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  223 

(ated  ill  the  hands  of  a  few.  Where  slavery  exists  there  is 
no  middle  class,  little  or  no  manufacturing  or  commercial 
enterprise.  The  slaveowner  possesses  the  means  ol  rapidly 
amassing  wealth,  while  the  freeman  who  is  not  a  slaveowner, 
being  shut  out  from  nearly  every  path  of  industry,  and  being 
convinced  that  labour  is  a  degradation,  will  be  both  demoral- 
ised and  impoverished.  At  the  same  time  a  strong  military 
spirit  will  usually  be  encouraged,  both  because  the  energies 
oi  men  find  no  other  sphere  of  action,  and  because  in  such  a 
condition  of,  society  conquest  is  the  chief  path  to  wealth.  In 
some  respects  the  consequences  of  all  this  will  appear  very 
fascinating.  A  high  military  enthusiasm  being  engendered, 
the  nation  which  cherishes  slavery  will  usually  prove  vic- 
torious in  its  conflicts  with  the  commercial  communities 
around  it.  It  will  produce  many  great  warriors,  many  splen- 
did examples  of  military  devotion.  A  combination  of  the 
high  mettle  of  the  soldier  and  of  a  chivalroxis  contempt  for 
trade  and  the  trading  spirit  will  impart  an  aristocratic  and 
refined  tone  to  the  national  manners,  while  the  national  in- 
tellect will  be  diverted  from  lUilitarian  inventions  and  pur- 
suits, and  will  be  concentrated  on  sublime  speculations  and 
works  of  beauty.  But  as  soon  as  the  first  energy  of  the  con- 
quering spirit  has  passed  away,  the  hollowness  of  such  a  civ- 
ilisation becomes  apparent.  The  increase  of  wealth,  which 
in  a  free  nation  strengthens  the  middle  classes  and  gives  a 
new  impulse  to  commercial  enterprise,  in  a  slave  nation  pro- 
luces  only  luxury  and  vice;  and  the  habit  of  regarding  mul- 
titudes as  totally  destitute  of  rights,  combined  with  the 
military  spirit  that  is  general,  gives  that  vice  a  character  of 
the  most  odiou>  ferocity.1 

1  The  eft'eets  of   slavery  upon   character  have  hitelv  been  treated  with 


224  EATIONALISM   TJST    EUEOPE. 

It  is  of  course  possible  that  the  intervention  of  other  in 
fliiences  may  modify  this  type  of  character,  and  may  retard 
and  in  some  degree  prevent  the  downfall  it  produces ;  but  in 
as  far  as  slavery  is  predominant,  in  so  far  will  these  tenden- 
cies be  displayed.  In  the  ancient  civilisation  they  were  de- 
veloped to  the  full  extent.  From  a  very  early  period  tho 
existence  of  slavery  had  produced,  both  in  Greece  and  Rome, 
a  strong  contempt  for  commerce  and  for  manual  labour, 
which  was  openly  professed  by  the  ablest  men,  and  which 
harmonised  well  with  their  disdain  for  the  more  utilitarian 
aspects  of  science.  Among  the  Boeotians  those  who  had  de- 
tiled  themselves  with  commerce  were  excluded  for  ten  years 
from  all  offices  in  the  State.  Plato  pronounced  the  trade  of 
a  shopkeeper  to  be  a  degradation  to  a  freeman,  and  he  wished 
it  to  be  punished  as  a  crime.  Aristotle,  who  asserted  so 
strongly  the  political  claims  of  the  middle  classes,  declared, 
nevertheless,  that  in  a  perfect  State  no  citizen  should  exer- 
cise any  mechanical  art.  Xenophon  and  Cicero  were  both 
of  the  same  opinion.  Augustus  condemned  a  senator  to 
death  because  he  had  debased  his  rank  by  taking  part  in  a 
manufacture.  The  single  form  of  labour  that  was  held  in 
honour  was  agriculture  ;  and  in  the  earlier  and  simpler  pe- 
riods of  the  national  history,  while  slaves  were  still  few  and 
luxury  was  v.nknown,  this  pursuit  proved  a  sufficient  vent 
for  the  pacific  energies  of  the  people.  Hut  when  the  number 
and  wealth  of  the  population  had  been  multiplied,  when  a  long 
series  of  victories  had  greatly  increased  the  multitude  of 
slaves,  and  when  the  political  privileges  of  a  Roman  citizen 
had  been  widely  extended,  all  classes  Hocked  within  the  walls 
the  surrounding  country  fell  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the 

very   remarkaUe  ability  in   Cairncs'   Slave  Pov.cr.     Pee  also   Storeli,    Ecwi 
Politifj'ie,  torn,  v.,  and  Cb.  Conitc,  Traitu  de  Legislation,  lib.  v. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  225 

bristocracy,  and  either  remained  uncultivated  or  was  culti- 
vated only  by  slaves,1  and  the  task  of  supplying  the  over- 
grown city  with  corn  devolved  chiefly  upon  the  colonies. 
\Vithin  the  city  a  vast  half-military  population,  sufficient!  y 
powerful  to  control  the  government,  and  intent  only  upor 
enjoyment,  paralysed  the  energies  of  the  empire,  and  de- 
Ftroyed  every  trace  of  its  ancient  purity.  '  Bread  and  the 
games  of  the  circus  '  was  the  constant  demand  ;  every  other 
consideration  was  sacrificed  to  grant  it ;  and  industry,  in  all 
its  departments,  was  relinquished  to  the  slaves. 

If  we  compare  the  condition  of  the  ancient  with  that  of 
the  modern  slaves,  we  shall  find  that  they  were  in  some  re- 
spects profoundly  different.  The  modern  slave-trade  was  an 
atrocity  unknown  to  the  ancients,  nor  was  there  then  the 
difference  of  race  and  colour  that  now  prevents  a  fusion  of 
the  free  and  the  enslaved  classes.  Aristotle,  the  greatest  of 
all  the  advocates  of  slavery,  recommended  masters  to  hold 
out  the  prospect  of  future  emancipation  to  their  slaves  ;  and 
we  know  that  in  the  latter  days  of  the  Roman  Empire  the 
manumission  of  old  slaves  was  very  general,  and  of  those 
who  were  not  old,  by  no  means  rare.  Besides  this,  the  great 
development  of  commerce  enabling  the  modern  slaveowners 
to  command  every  description  of  luxury  in  exchange  for  the 
produce  of  unskilled  slave-labour,  they  have  usually,  in  order 
to  guard  against  rebellion,  adopted  the  policy  of  brutalising 
their  slaves  by  enforced  ignorance — to  such  an  extent  that  it 
is  actually  penal,  in  the  majority  of  the  Slave  States  of 
America,  to  teach  a  slave  to  read.  In  the  ancient  civilisa- 

1  See  on  tliis  r-ubject  Plutarch,  I.ivix  of  ///<•  Graecft!  ;  Dionvsius,  H.ilicar- 
M.w<nw,  lib.  ii.  cap.  28  ;  Culiiint'lla,  DC  Ke  Jiu.sliai.  This  whole  subject  has 
been  very  ably  treated  by  M.  Comte,  Tralte  <le  L>';/i.<t!at!on.  See  also  111am  [Hi, 
ffisfoirc  <f  Economic  2'oUtiy/c  ;  Dureau  do  la  Malle,  J-Ji-onomie  7V<V></>«:  f/ts 
Roma!  us. 


226  RATIONALISM   IN    EUEOPE. 

tions,  on  the  other  hand,  the  slave  produced  all  the  articles 
of  refinement  and  luxury,  conducted  the  most  difficult  forms 
of  labour,  and  often  exercised  the  most  important  professions. 
His  mind  was  therefore  very  frequently  cultivated  to  the 
highest  point,  and  his  value  was  proportioned  to  his  intelli- 
gence. Terence,  Epictetus,  Publius  Syrus,  and  many  other 
Writers  were  slaves,  as  were  also  some  of  the  leading  physi- 
cians, and  many  of  the  most  distinguished  sculptors.  It 
should  be  remembered,  too,  that  while  modern  slavery  was 
from  the  beginning  an  evil,  slavery  among  the  ancients  was 
at  first  an  unmingled  blessing — an  important  conquest  of  the 
spirit  of  humanity.  When  men  were  altogether  barbarous 
they  killed  their  prisoners ;  when  they  became  more  merci 
ful  they  preserved  them  as  slaves.1 

Still,  in  the  latter  days  of  the  republic,  and  during  the 
empire,  the  sufferings  of  the  slaves  were  such  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  read  them  without  a  shudder.  The  full  ferocity 
of  the  national  character  was  directed  against  them.  They 
were  exposed  to  wild  beasts,  or  compelled  to  fight  as  gladia- 
tors ;  the}  were  often  mutilated  with  atrocious  cruelty  ;  they 
were  tortured  on  the  slightest  suspicion,  they  were  crucified 
for  the  most  trivial  offences.  If  a  master  was  murdered  all 
his  slaves  were  tortured  ;  if  the  perpetrator  remained  undis- 
covered all  were  put  to  death,  and  Tacitus  relates  a  case  in 
which  no  less  thar  400  suffered  for  a  single  undiscovered 
criminal.  "We  read  of  one  slave  who  was  crucified  for  hav- 
ing stolen  a  quail,  and  of  another  who  was  condemned  to  bo 
thrown  to  the  fish  for  having  broken  a  crystal  vase.  Juvenal 
describes  a  lady  of  fashion  gratifying  a  momentary  caprice 
by  order!  ner  a  slave  to  be  crucified.2 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  227 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  the  old  civilisation,  which 
rested  on  conquest  and  on  slavery,  had  passed  into  complete 
dissolution,  the  free  classes  being  altogether  demoralised,  and 
the  slave  classes  exposed  to  the  most  horrible  cruelties.  At 
last  the  spirit  of  Christianity  moved  over  this  chaotic  so- 
ciety, and  not  merely  alleviated  the  evils  that  convulsed  it, 
but  also  reorganised  it  on  a  new  basis.  It  did  this  in  three 
ways  ;  it  abolished  slavery,  it  created  charity,  it  inculcated 
self-sacrifice. 

In  the  first  of  these  tasks  Christianity  was  powerfully  as- 
sisted by  two  other  agents.  It  is  never  possible  for  the 
moral  sense  to  be  entirely  extinguished  ;  and,  by  a  law  whicli 
is  constantly  manifested  in  history,  we  find  that  those  who 
have  emancipated  themselves  from  the  tendencies  of  an  evil 
age  often  attain  a  degree  of  moral  excellence  that  had  not 
been  attained  in  ages  that  were  comparatively  pure.  The 
latter  days  of  pagan  Rome  exhibit  a  constant  decay  of  relig- 
ious reverence  and  of  common  morality  ;  but  they  also  ex- 
hibit a  feverish  aspiration  towards  a  new  religion,  and  a  finer 
sense  of  the  requirements  of  a  high  morality  than  had  been 
displayed  in  the  best  days  of  the  republic.  "NVc  have  a  strik- 
ing instance  of  the  first  of  these  tendencies  in  that  sudden 
diffusion  of  the  worship  of  Mithra,  which  was  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  antecedents  of  Christianity.  About 
seventy  years  before  the  Christian  era  this  worship  was  in- 
troduced into  Italy,  as  Plutarch  tells  us,  by  some  Cilician 
pirates;  and  at  a  time  when  universal  scepticism  seemed  the 
dominant  characteristic  of  the  Uoman  intellect,  it  took  such 


228  BATIOXAMSM   IN   EUKOPE. 

firm  root  that  for  200  years  it  continued  to  flourish,  to  excite 
the  warmest  enthusiasm,  and  to  produce  a  religious  revival 
in  the  centre  of  a  population  that  appeared  entirely  de- 
praved. In  the  same  way,  about  the  time  when  Xero  as- 
cended the  throne  and  when  the  humanity  of  the  masses  had 
sunk  to  the  lowest  ebb,  there  appeared  in  the  centre  of  pa- 
ganism a  powerful  reaction  in  favour  of  the  suffering  classes, 
of  which  Seneca  was  the  principal  exponent,  but  which  was 
more  or  less  reflected  in  the  whole  of  the  literature  of  the 
time.  Seneca  recurred  to  the  subject  again  and  again,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  Rome  he  very  clearly  and  emphatically 
enforced  the  duties  of  masters  to  their  slaves,  and  the  exist' 
ence  of  a  bond  of  fraternity  that  no  accidental  difference  of 
position  could  cancel.  Xor  was  the  movement  confined  to 
the  writings  of  moralists.  A  long  series  of  enactments  by 
Nero,  Claudius,  Antonine,  and  Adrian  gave  the  servile  class 
a  legal  position,  took  the  power  of  life  and  death  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  masters,  prevented  the  exposure  of  slaves  when 
old  and  infirm  on  an  island  of  the  Tiber  (where  they  had 
often  been  left  to  die),  forbade  their  mutilation  or  their  employ- 
ment as  gladiators,  and  appointed  special  magistrates  to  re- 
ceive their  complaints.  What  was  done  was,  no  doubt,  very 
imperfect  and  inadequate,  but  it  represented  a  tendency  of 
which  Christianity  was  the  continuation.1 

A  second  influence  favourable  to  the  slaves  came  into 
action  at  a  later  period :  I  mean  the  invasion  of  the  barba- 
rians, who  have  been  justly  described  as  the  representatives 
of  the  principle  of  personal  liberty  in  Europe.2  Slavery  was 
not,  indeed,  absolutely  unknown  among  them,  but  it  was  alto- 
gether exceptional  and  entirely  uncongenial  with  their  habits. 

1  This  movement  has  been  well  noticed  by  Grotius,  DC  Jure,  lib.  iii.  c.  14 
"*  Guizot. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALJSM.  229 

Prisoners  of  war,  criminals,  or  men  who  had  gambled  away 
their  liberty,  were  the  only  slaves,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  servitude  was  hereditary.  Whenever,  therefore, 
these  tribes  obtained  an  ascendency,  they  contributed  to  the 
destination  of  slavery. 

But  when  the  fullest  allowance  has  been  made  for  these 
influences,  it  will  remain  an  undoubted  fact  that  the  recon- 
struction of  society  was  mainly  the  work  of  Christianity. 
Other  influences  could  produce  the  manumission  of  many 
slaves,  but  Christianity  alone  could  effect  the  profound 
change  of  character  that  rendered  possible  the  abolition  of 
slavery.  There  are  few  subjects  more  sinking,  and  at  the 
same  time  more  instructive,  than  the  history  of  that  great 
transition.  The  Christians  did  not  pi'each  a  revolutionary 
doctrine.  They  did  not  proclaim  slavery  altogether  iinlaw- 
ful,  or,  at  least,  not  until  the  bull  of  Alexander  III.  in  the 
twelfth  century ;  but  they  steadily  sapped  it  at  its  basis,  by 
opposing  to  it  the  doctrine  of  universal  brotherhood,  and  by 
infusing  a  spirit  of  humanity  into  all  the  relations  of  society. 
Under  Constantine,  the  old  laws  for  the  protection  of  slaves 
were  rcenactcd  with  additional  provisions,  and  the  separa- 
tion of  the  family  of  the  slave  was  forbidden.  At  the  samo 
time  the  servile  punishment  of  crucifixion  was  abolished;  but 
not  so  much  from  motives  of  humanity  as  on  account  of  the 
sacred  character  it  had  acquired.  Very  soon  a  disposition 
was  manifested  on  all  sides  to  emancipate  slaves,  and  that 
emancipation  was  invariably  associated  with  religion.  Sun- 
day was  especially  recommended  as  the  most  appropriate 
day  for  the  emancipation,  and  the  ceremony  almost  invaria- 
bly took  place  in  the  church.  Gregory  the  Great  set  the  ex- 
ample of  freeing  a  number  of  his  slaves  as  an  act  of  devo- 
tion ;  and  it  soon  became  customarv  for  sovereigns  to  do  thu 


230  RATIONALISM   IN    EUEOPE. 

same  thing  at  seasons  of  great  public  rejoicing.  Under  Jus- 
tinian the  restrictions  that  had  been  placed  npi  n  emancipa- 
tion by  testament  were  removed.  For  a  short  time  the  mere 
resolution  to  enter  a  monastery  gave  liberty  to  the  slave; 
and  the  monks,  being  for  the  most  part  recruited  from  the 
servile  caste,  were  always  ready  to  facilitate  the  deliverance 
of  their  brethren.  Even  in  religious  persecutions  this  object 
was  remembered.  The  Jews  were  early  noted  as  slave-deal- 
ers, and  among  the  first  and  most  frequent  measures  directed 
against  them  was  the  manumission  of  their  Christian  slaves. 
In  all  the  rites  of  religion  the  difference  between  bond  and 
free  was  studiously  ignored,  and  the  clergy  invariably  pro- 
claimed the  act  of  enfranchisement  to  be  meritorious.1 

By  these  means  an  impulse  favourable  to  liberty  was  im- 
parted to  all  who  Avere  within  the  influence  of  the  Church. 
Slavery  began  rapidly  to  disappear,  or  to  fade  into  serfdom. 
At  the  same  time  the  Church  exerted  her  powers,  with  no 
less  effect,  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  those  who  still  contin- 
ued in  bondage.  In  England,  especially,  all  the  civil  laws 

1  Cod.  77icod.  lib.  ii.  tit.  8,  lex  1,  and  iv.  7,  1.  For  the  history  of  the 
action  of  Christianity  upon  slavery,  see  A.  Comte,  Philosophic  Positive,  torn, 
vi.  pp.  43-47;  Storch,  Economic  Politiqite,  torn.  v.  pp.  300-310;  Troplong, 
Lifii'-.nce  du  CJn-istiunisme  sv.r  le  Droit  Civil.  The  measures  against  Jew 
slave-owners  have  been  noticed  by  Bedarride,  Du  Lae,  and  many  other  writ- 
ers. It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  the  Christian  Emperor  Gratian 
made  one  law  which  may  rank  with  the  most  atrocious  of  Paganism.  It  pro- 
vides that  if  a  slave  accused  his  master  of  any  crime  except  high  treason, 
the  justice  of  the  charge  was  not  to  be  examined,  but  the  slave  was  to  be 
committed  to  the  flames:  'Cum  accusatores  servi  dominis  intonent,  nemo 
judiciorum  expectet  evcntum.  nihil  quan'i,  nihil  discuti  placet,  sed  cum  ip-is 
delationum  libellis,  cum  omni  scripturarum  et  meditati  criminis  apparatu, 
Defandarum  accusationum  crcmcntur  auctores :  excepto  tamen  udpetitaa 
majestatis  crimine,  in  quo  etiam  servis  honesta  proditio  est.  Xam  et  hoc 
•acinus  tendit  in  doininos.' — <'•,<!.  Tlc',<l,  ix.  f\,  2.  Ilonoriu-  accorded  slaves 
the  liberty  of  accusiiitr  their  masters  ,n  cases  of  heresy,  and  Thoodosius  in 
ca.'es  of  pngani-m. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  231 

for  the  protection  of  the  theows,  or  Saxon  slaves,  appear  to 
have  been  preceded  by,  and  based  upon,  the  canon  law. 
When,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  power  of  the  master 
was  by  law  unlimited,  we  find  the  Church  assuming  a  juris- 
diction on  the  subject,  and  directing  special  penances  'against 
masters  who  took  from  their  theows  the  money  they  had  law- 
fully earned ;  against  those  who  slew  their  theows  without 
judgment  or  good  cause;  against  mistresses  who  beat  their 
female  theows  so  that  they  die  within  three  days;  and 
against  freemen  who,  by  order  of  the  lord,  kill  a  theow.' 
Above  all,  the  whole  machinery  of  ecclesiastical  discipline 
was  put  in  motion  to  shelter  the  otherwise  unprotected  chas- 
tity of  the  female  slave.1  That  Church  which  often  seemed 
so  haughty  and  so  overbearing  in  its  dealings  with  kings  and 

o        •/  o  o  o 

nobles,  never  failed  to  listen  to  the  poor  and  to  the  oppressed, 
and  for  many  centuries  their  protection  was  the  foremost  of 
all  the  objects  of  its  policy. 

Yet  as  long  as  the  old  antipathy  to  labour  continued, 
nothing  of  any  lasting  value  had  been  effected.  But  here, 
a°-ain,  the  influence  of  the  Church  was  exerted  with  unwa- 

~  i 

veriug  beneficence  and  success.  The  Fathers  employed  all 
their  eloquence  in  favour  of  labour ; 3  but  it  is  to  the  monks, 
and  especially  to  the  Benedictine  monks,  that  the  change  is 
preeminently  due.  At  a  time  when  religious  enthusiasm 
was  all  directed  towards  the  monastic  life  as  towards  the 
ideal  of  perfection,  they  made  labour  an  essential  part  of 
their  discipline.  Wherever  they  went,  they  revived  the  tra- 
ditions of  old  Roman  agriculture,  and  large  tracts  of  France 
and  Belgium  were  drained  and  planted  by  their  hands.  And 


232  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

though  agriculture  and  gardening  were  the  forms  of  labour 
in  which  they  especially  excelled,  they  indirectly  became  the 
authors  of  every  other.  For  when  a  monastery  was  planted, 
it  soon  became  the  nucleus  around  which  the  inhabitants  of 
the  neighbourhood  clustered.  A  town  was  thus  gradually 
formed,  civilised  by  Christian  teaching,  stimulated  to  indus- 
try by  the  example  of  the  monks,  and  protected  by  the  rev- 
erence that  attached  to  them.  At  the  same  time  the  orna- 
mentation of  the  church  gave  the  first  impulse  to  art.  The 
monks  of  the  order  of  St.  Basil  devoted  themselves  especial- 
ly to  painting,  and  all  the  mediaeval  architects  whose  names 
have  come  down  to  us  arc  said  to  have  been  ecclesiastics,  till 
the  rise  of  those  great  lay  companies  who  designed  or  built 
the  cathedrals  of  the  twelfth  century.  A  great  number  of 
the  towns  of  Belgium  trace  their  origin  in  this  manner  to 
the  monks.1  For  a  long  time  the  most  eminent  prelates  did 
not  disdain  manual  labour;  and  it  is  related  of  no  less  a  per- 
sonage than  Becket  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  labouring 
during  harvest  time  in  the  fields  with  the  monks  at  the  mon- 
asteries which  he  visited.2 

By  these  means  the  contempt  for  labour  which  had  been 
produced  by  slavery  was  corrected,  and  the  path  was  opened 
for  the  rise  of  the  industrial  classes  which  followed  the  Cru- 
sades. The  ferocity  of  character  that  had  preceded  Chris- 
tianity was  combated  with  equal  zeal,  though  not  quite 
equal  success,  by  the  organisation  of  Christian  charity. 

There  is  certainly  no  other  feature  of  the  old  civilisation  so 
repulsive  as  the  indifference  to  suffering  that  it  displayed. 
It  is  indeed  true  that  in  this  respect  there  was  a  considerable 


'  Sec  on  this  subject  Perin,  1st  7i/'7<>".s\w 
1.  pp.  o-13-3ijl  ;  Van  Briiyssul,  111x1.  //>'  (  '<>>,i 
8  Eilen,  nixlory  »f  tic  TMlxmrutfj  r/,/w,- 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF   RATION ALISM.  233 

difference  between  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans.  In  their 
armaments,  in  their  wars,  above  all,  in  the  extreme  solicitude 
to  guard  the  interests  of  orphans  and  minors  that  character- 
ised their  legislation,'  the  former  displayed  a  spirit  of  hu- 
manity for  which  we  look  in  vain  among  the  latter.  Besides 
this,  the  political  systems  of  Greece  and,  in  its  latter  days, 
of  Rome,  were  so  framed  that  the  state  in  a  great  measure 
supplied  the  material  wants  of  the  people,  and  a  poor  law  of 
the  heaviest  kind  was.  to  a  certain  extent,  a  substitute  for 
private  beneficence.  Still  there,  as  elsewhere,  purely  chari- 
table institutions  were  absolutely  unknown.  Except  as  far  as 
the  law  interposed,  there  was  no  public  refuge  for  the  sick  or 
for  the  destitute.  The  infant  was  entirely  unprotected  ;  and 
infanticide  having  been — at  least  in  the  case  of  deformed 
children — expressly  authorised  by  both  Plato  and  Aristotle, 
was  seldom  regarded  as  a  crime.11  The  practice  of  bring- 
ing up  orphans  avowedly  for  prostitution  was  equally  com- 
mon. The  constant  association  of  human  suffering  with 
popular  entertainments  rendered  the  popular  mind  continu- 
ally more  callous. 

Very  different  was  the  aspect  presented  by  the  early 
Church.  Long  before  the  era  of  persecution  had  closed,  the 
hospital  and  the  Xenodochion,  or  refuge  for  strangers,  was 
known  among  the  Christians.  The  epitaphs  in  the  catacombs 
abundantly  prove  the  multitude  of  foundlings  that  were 
sustained  by  their  charity  ;  and  when  Christianity  became  the 

1  Grote,  Il'ist.  of  Grcccr,  vol.  ii.  p.  ]-j:{. 

1  Hume  has  very  iimvniously  slices  tod,  and  Mnlthus  lias  adopted  tlic 
•uggestion,  that  the  ancient  permission  of  infanticide  had  on  the  whole  a 
tendency  to  multiply  rather  than  to  diminish  population;  for,  by  removing 
the  t'Yar  of  a  numerous  family,  ir  induced  the.  poor  to  marry  recklessly; 
while,  once  the  children  were  horn,  natural  affection  would  struiru'le  to  tin 
List  to  sustain  them. 


23i  RATIONALISM   IX    EUROPE. 

dominant  religion,  the  protection  of  infants  was  one  of  the  first 
changes  that  was  manifested  in  the  laws.1  The  frequent  fam- 
ines and  the  frightful  distress  caused  by  the  invasion  of  ths 
barbarians,  and  by  the  transition  from  slavery  to  freedom, 
were  met  by  the  most  boundless,  the  most  lavish  benevolence. 
The  Fathers  were  ceaselessly  exhorting  to  charity,  and  in  lan- 
guage so  emphatic  that  it  seemed  sometimes  almost  to  ignore 
the  rights  of  property,  and  to  verge  upon  absolute  commun- 
ism.2 The  gladiatorial  games  were  ceaselessly  denounced  ; 
but  the  affection  with  which  they  were  regarded  by  the  people 
long  resisted  the  efforts  of  philanthropists,  till,  in  the  midst 
of  the  spectacle,  the  monk  Telemachus  rushed  between  the 
combatants,  and  his  blood  was  the  last  that  stained  the  arena. 

1  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  deserted  children  in  the  early  Church  ap- 
pear to  have  been  supported  mainly  by  private  charity,  and  those  foundling 
hospitals,  to  which  political  economists  so  strongly  object,  •were  unknown. 
In  the  time  of  Justinian,  however,  we  find  notices  of  Brephotrophia,  or 
asylums  for  children ;  and  foundations,  intended  especially  for  foundlings, 
are  said  to  have  existed  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  (Labourt,  Reclicr- 
c?us  sxr  Its  Eiifants  trouvis,  Paris,  1848,  pp.  32,  So).  A  foundling  hospital 
was  established  by  Innocent  III.  at  Koine.  The  objections  to  these  institu- 
tions, on  account  of  their  encouragement  of  vice,  as  well  as  the  frightful 
mortality  prevailing  among  them,  are  well  known.  M:Culloch  states  thai 
between  17'.'2  and  1707  the  admissions  into  foundling  hospitals  in  Dublin 
were  12,7SO,  and  the  deaths  12,501  (Pol.  E<:c,n.  part  i.  oh.  viii.X  Magdalen 
asylums,  which  M.  Ch.  Comte  and  other  economists  have  vehemently  de- 
nounced, were  also  unknown  in  the  early  Church.  The  first  erected  in 
France  was  early  in  the  thirteenth  century;  the  famous  institution  of  the  Bon 
Pasteur  was  founded  by  a  Dutch  lady  converted  to  Catholicism  in  1098.  A 
full  history  of  these  institutions  is  given  in  Parent-Duchatelet's  singularly 
interesting  work  on  Prostitution  in  the  City  of  Pari*.  The  admirable  socie- 
ties for  the  succour  of  indigent  mothers,  which  complete  the  measures  for 
the  protection  of  infancy,  were  chiefly  the  work  of  the  French  freethinkers 
of  the  last  century.  Beaumarchais  dedicated  part  of  the  profits  of  the 
J/tf/v'ajt  flc  f'i'furo  to  that  of  Lyons  (Dueellier,  Hid.  <•/«  (//</.««  Ldmricuses 
"ft  Fruiicc,  p.  2 '..»•'> ). 

3  Soe  some  very  striking  instances  of  this  in  Chainpagnv's  C/Mntt 
Chrit'c'nne 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  235 

But  perhaps  the  noblest  testimony  to  the  extent  and  the 
catholicity  of  Christian  charity  was  furnished  by  an  adver- 
sary. Julian  exerted  all  his  energies  to  produce  a  charitable 
movement  among  the  Pagans ;  '  for  it  is  a  scandal,'  he  said, 
'that  the  Galileans  should  support  the  destitute,  not  only  of 
their  religion,  but  of  ours.' 

In  reading  the  history  of  that  noble  efflorescence  of  charity 
which  marked  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  it  is  impossible 
to  avoid  reflecting  upon  the  strange  destiny  that  has  con- 
signed almost  all  its  authors  to  obscurity,  while  the  names  of 
those  who  took  any  conspicuous  part  in  sectarian  history 
have  become  household  words  among  mankind.  We  hear 
much  of  martyrs,  who  sealed  their  testimony  with  blood ;  of 
courageous  missionaries,  who  planted  the  standard  of  the 
Cross  among  savage  nations  and  in  pestilential  climes ;  but 
we  hear  little  of  that  heroism  of  charity,  which,  with  no  pre- 
cedent to  guide  it,  and  with  every  early  habit  to  oppose  it, 
confronted  the  most  loathsome  forms  of  suffering,  and,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  humanity,  made  pain  and  hideous 
disease  the  objects  of  a  reverential  affection.  In  the  intel- 
lectual condition  of  bygone  centuries,  it  was  impossible  that 
these  things  should  be  appreciated  as  they  deserved.  Charity 
was  practised,  indeed,  nobly  and  constantly,  but  it  did  not 
strike  the  imagination,  it  did  not  elicit  the  homage  of  man- 
kind. It  was  regarded  by  the  masses  as  an  entirely  subordi- 
nate department  of  virtue;  and  the  noblest  efforts  of  philan- 
thropy excited  far  less  admiration  than  the  macerations  of  an 
anchorite  or  the  proselytising  /eal  of  a  sectarian.  Fabiola, 
that  IJoman  lady  who  seems  to  have  done  more  than  any 
other  single  individual  in  the  erection  of  the  first  hospitals  ; 
^t.  Landry,  the  great  apostle  of  charity  in  France:  even 
Telemachus  himself,  are  all  obscure  names  in  historv.  The 


236 


RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 


men  who  organised  that  vast  network  of  hospitals  that  over- 
spread Europe  after  the  Crusades  have  passed  altogether  from 
recollection.  It  was  not  till  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
modern  habits  of  thought  were  widely  diffused,  that  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul  arose  and  furnished  an  example  of  a  saint 
who  is  profoundly  and  universally  revered,  and  who  owes 
that  reverence  to  the  splendour  of  his  charity.  But  although 
it  is  true  that  during  many  centuries  the  philanthropist  was 
placed  upon  a  far  lower  level  than  at  present,  it  is  not  the 
less  true  that  charity  was  one  of  the  earliest,  as  it  was  one  of 
the  noblest,  creations  of  Christianity ;  and  that,  independent- 
ly of  the  incalculable  mass  of  suffering  it  has  assuaged,  the 
influence  it  has  exercised  in  softening  and  purifying  the  char- 
acter, in  restraining  the  passions,  and  enlarging  the  sympa- 
thies of  mankind,  has  made  it  one  of  the  most  important 
elements  of  our  civilisation.  The  precepts  and  examples  of 
the  Gospel  struck  a  chord  of  pathos  which  the  noblest  phi- 
losophies of  antiquity  had  never  reached.  For  the  first  time 
the  aureole  of  sanctity  encircled  the  brow  of  sorrow  and 
invested  it  with  a  mysterious  charm.  It  is  related  of  an  old 
Catholic  saint  that,  at  the  evening  of  a  laborious  and  well- 
spent  life,  Christ  appeared  to  him  as  a  man  of  sorrows,  and, 
commending  his  past  exertions,  asked  him  what  reward  he 
would  desire.  Fame,  and  wealth,  and  earthly  pleasures  had 
no  attraction  to  one  who  had  long  been  weaned  from  the 
things  of  sense;  yet  the  prospect  of  other  and  spiritual  bless- 
in  2S  for  a  moment  thrilled  the  saint  with  joy;  but  when  he 
looked  upon  that  sacred  brow,  still  shadowed  as  with  the 
anguish  of  Gcthsemane,  every  selfish  wish  was  forgotten,  and, 
with  a  voice  of  ineffable  love,  he  answered,  '  Loid,  that  1 
might  suffer  most ! ' 

1  This  is,  I  believe,  related  of  St.  John  of  the  Cross.     There  is  a  some- 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  237 

The  third  principle  that  Christianity  employed  to  correct 
the  evils  of  a  decayed  society  was  the  principle  of  self-sacri- 
fice. We  have  already  seen  some  of  the  evils  that  resulted 
from  the  monastic  system;  but,  considered  in  its  proper 
place,  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  its  use.  For  the  manner 
in  which  society  attains  that  moderate  and  tempered  excel- 
lence which  is  most  congenial  to  its  welfare  is  by  imperfectly 
aspiring  towards  an  heroic  ideal.  In  an  age,  therefore,  when 
the  government  of  force  had  produced  universal  anarchy, 
theologians  taught  the  doctrine  of  passive  obedience.  In  an 
age  when  unbridled  luxury  had  produced  an  unbridled  cor- 
ruption, they  elevated  voluntary  poverty  as  a  virtue.  In  an 
age  when  the  facility  of  divorce  had  almost  legalised  polyg- 
amy, they  proclaimed,  with  St.  Jerome,  that  '  marriage  peo- 
ples earth,  but  virginity  heaven.' 

The  earlier  portion  of  the  middle  ages  presents  the  almost 
unique  spectacle  of  a  society  that  was  in  all  its  parts  moulded 
and  coloured  by  theological  ideas,  and  it  was  natural  that 
when  the  progress  of  knowledge  destroyed  the  ascendency 
of  those  ideas  a  universal  modification  should  ensue.  But 
besides  this,  it  is  not,  I  think,  difficult  to  perceive  that  the 
industrial  condition  of  Europe  at  this  time  contained  ele- 
ments of  dissolution.  The  true  incitements  to  industry  must 
ever  be  found  in  its  own  rewards.  The  desire  of  wealth,  the 
multiplied  wants  and  aims  of  an  elaborated  civilisation,  the 
rivalry  and  the  ambition  of  commerce,  are  the  chief  causes 
of  its  progress.  Labour  performed  as  a  duty,  associated  with 
the  worship  of  voluntary  poverty,  and  with  the  condemna- 
tion of  luxury,  was  altogether  abnormal.  It  was  onlv  by 


238  EATIOXALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

the  emancipation  and  development  of  some  of  the  towns  of 
Italy  and  Belgium  that  the  industrial  spirit  became  entirely 
secular,  and,  assuming  a  new  prominence  and  energy,  intro- 
duced an  order  of  tendencies  into  Europe  which  gradually 
encroached  upon  the  domain  of  theology,  and  contributed 
largely  towards  the  Reformation,  and  towards  the  rationalism 
that  followed  it.  But  before  examining  the  nature  of  those 
tendencies  it  may  be  necessary  to  say  a  few  words  concern- 
nig  the  circumstances  that  gave  them  birth. 

Although  the  old  Roman  slavery  received  its  death-blow 
under  the  influences  I  have  noticed,  some  lingering  remains 
of  it  continued  till  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century ;  *  and 
the  serfdom  that  followed  not  only  continued  much  later,  but 
even  for  a  long  time  absorbed  great  numbers  of  the  free 

O  O 

peasants.  The  rapacity  of  the  nobles,  and  the  famines  that 
were  so  frequent  during  the  middle  ages,  induced  the  poor  to 
exchange  their  liberty  for  protection  and  for  bread ;  and  the 
custom  of  punishing  all  crimes  by  fines,  with. the  alternative 
of  servitude  in  case  of  non-payment,  still  further  increased 
the  evil.  At  the  same  time  the  mildness  of  the  ecclesiastical 
rule,  and  also  the  desire  to  obtain  the  advantage  of  the 
prayers  of  the  monks,  induced  many  to  attach  themselves  as 


1  In  1102  a  Council  of  Westminster  found  it  necessary  to  prohibit  the 
-,ne  of  slaves  in  England  (Eden,  Jfof.  of  L'-ilmtrinf/  Classes,  vol.  i.  p.  Id); 
-ind  still  later  the  English  were  accustomed  to  sell  slaves  to  the  Irish,  and 
Giraldus  Cambreusis  tells  us  that  the  emancipation  of  their  slaves  as  an  act 
c-f  devotion  was  enjoined  by  the  Irish  bishops  on  the  occasion  of  Strong- 
i  u\v's  invasion.  Bodin  has  noticed  some  passages  from  the  bulls  of  the 
Popes  relative  to  slaves  in  Italy  as  late  as  the  thirteenth  century  (H.'pulliqne, 
p.  !:;').  Kcligion,  which  so  powerfully  contributed  to  the  emancipation,  in 
some  ca-cs  had  an  opposite  influence,  for  Christians  enslaved  without  scruple 
Jews  and  Mohammedans,  who  naturally  retaliated.  The  number  of  Christian 
slaves  bought  up  by  the  Jews  had  been  one  of  the  complaints  of  Agobard 
in  the  ninth  century. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  239 

serfs  to  the  monasteries.1  Although  it  would  be  unfair  to 
accuse  the  Church  of  abandoning  the  cause  of  emancipation, 
it  is  probable  that  this  last  fact  in  some  degree  lessened  her 
zeal.2  The  bulk  of  the  population  of  Europe  was  emanci- 
pated between  the  twelfth  and  fifteenth  centuries;  but  the 
remains  of  serfdom  have  even  now  scarcely  disappeared.1 
fn  the  towns,  however,  personal  and  political  liberty  was  at- 
tained much  earlier.  Something  of  the  old  Roman  munici- 
pal government  had  lingered  faintly  in  the  south  of  France 
during  the  whole  of  the  middle  ages  ;  but  the  complete 
emancipation  was  chiefly  due  to  the  necessities  of  sovereigns, 
who,  in  their  conflicts  with  the  nobles  or  with  other  nations, 
gladly  purchased  by  privileges  the  assistance  of  the  towns. 
It  is  probable  that  the  fact  of  many  of  the  English  kings  be- 
ing usurpers  contributed  in  this  way  to  the  emancipation  of 
the  English  citizens ; 4  and  the  struggle  between  the  king 

1  See  on  all  these  causes  Ilallam's  Middle  Ayes,  vol.  i.  pp.  217,  218. 

"  '  The  clergy,  and  especially  several  Popes,  enforced  manumission  as  a 
duty  upon  laymen,  and  inveighed  against  the  scandal  of  keeping  Christians 
in  bondage  ;  but  they  were  not,  it  is  said,  as  ready  in  performing  their  ow-n 
parts.  The  villeins  upon  the  Church  lands  were  among  the  last  who  were 
emancipated.' — Ilallam,  Middle  A'/<s,  vol.  i.  p.  '221. 

3  The  decline  of  serfdom  has  been  treated  by  ITallam,  Hist,  nf  Middle 
Ayes,  vol.  i.  pp.  222,  223.  As  late  as  1775,  colliers  in  Scotland  were  bound 
to  perpetual  service  in  the  works  to  which  they  belonged.  Upon  the  sale  ot 
tlmse  works  the  purchasers  had  a  right  to  their  services,  nor  could  they  be 
elsewhere  received  into  service  except  by  permission  of  the  owner  of  the  col- 
li'Tirs.  See  a  note  by  M'Cullocli,  in  his  edition  of  the  V\\uUk  <>f  _Yc/V<>/rx, 
vol.  ii.  p.  ISi'i. 

'It  wants  not  probability,  though  it  manifestly  appears  not,  that  Wil- 
liam Rufus,  Henry  I.,  and  King  Stephen,  bciiv_r  all  usuipers,  granted  large 
immunities  to  burghs  to  secure  them  to  their  party,  and  by  the  time  that 
(ll.invil  \\vote,  which  was  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IJ.,  burghs  had  so  givat 
(privileges  as  that,  if  a  bondsman  or  servant  remained  in  a  burgh  as  a  burgv.-J 
or  member  of  ii  a  year  and  a  day,  lie  was.  by  that  very  residence  made  free; 
nnd  so  it  was  in  Scotland  :  he  was  always  free,  and  enjoyed  the  liberty  of 
liie  burgh  if  he  were  able  to  buy  a  burgage.  and  his  lord  clanm-d  him  not 
a-ithiii  a  year  and  a  dav.'— Bradv,  H'oilo:-'"-,,!  Tr<'ttl<c  tut  f*;t;,v  (liiHU),  p.  18. 


and  nobles  in  France,  and  between  the  Popes  and  the  em- 
perors in  Italy,  had  a  similar  effect.  "\Vhenever  a  town  was 
emancipated  an  impulse  was  given  to  industry.  The  Cru- 
sades at  last  gave  the  municipal  and  industrial  element  an 
extraordinary  prominence.  The  great  sums  for  which  kings 
and  nobles  became  indebted  to  the  middle  classes,  the  rapid 
development  of  navigation,  the  inventions  that  were  import- 
ed into  Europe  from  the  East,  and,  above  all,  the  happy  for- 
tune that  made  the  Italian  towns  the  centre  of  the  stream  of 
wealth,  had  all,  in  different  ways,  increased  the  influence  of 
the  towns.  In  the  course  of  the  twelfth  century,  nearly  all 
which  carried  on  commercial  intercourse  with  Italy  had  ob- 
tained municipal  government,  and  some  of  those  of  Belgium, 
and  along  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  almost  equalled  the  Italian 
ones  in  commercial  activity.1  At  the  same  time  the  creation 
of  guilds  and  corporations  of  different  trades  consolidated  the 
advantages  that  had  been  gained.  For  although  it  is  un- 
doubtedly true  that  in  a  normal  condition  of  society  the  sys- 
tem of  protection  and  monopoly,  of  which  the  corporations 
were  the  very  ideal,  is  extremely  unfavourable  to  production, 
in  the  anarchy  of  the  middle  ages  it  was  of  great  use  in  giv- 
ing the  trading  classes  a  union  which  protected  them  from 
plunder,  and  enabled  them  to  incline  legislation  in  their  favour. 
Commerce,  under  their  influence,  became  a  great  power.  A 
new  and  secular  civilisation  was  called  into  being,  which  grad- 
ually encroached  upon  the  ascendency  of  theological  ideas, 
and  introduced  a  new  phase  in  the  development  of  Europe. 

It  may  be  observed,  however,  that  the  opposition  that  at 
last  aro:-e  between  the  theological  and  the  commercial  spirits 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF   RATIONALISM. 

is  not  exactly  what  we  might  at  first  sight  have  expected ; 
for  in  the  earlier  stages  of  society  they  have  striking  points 
of  affinity.  Missionary  enterprises  and  commercial  enter- 
prises are  the  two  main  agents  for  the  diffusion  of  civilisa- 
tion; they  commonly  advance  together,  and  each  lias  very 
frequently  proved  the  pioneer  of  the  other.  Besides  this,  the 
Crusades,  which  were  the  chief  expression  of  the  religious 
sentiments  of  the  middle  ages,  owed  their  partial  success  in 
a  great  measure  to  the  commercial  communities.  It  was  the 
merchants  of  Amalfi  who,  by  their  traffic,  first  opened  the 
path  for  Christians  to  Jerusalem,  and,  in  conjunction  with 
the  other  Italian  republics,  supplied  the  chief  wants  of  the 
Crusaders.  The  spirit  that  made  the  Venetian  merchants  of 
the  thirteenth  century  stamp  the  image  of  Christ  upon  their 
coins,  and  the  merchants  of  Florence  impose  a  tax  upon  their 
rich  woollen  manufactures,  in  order,  with  the  produce,  to 
erect  that  noble  cathedral  which  is  even  now  among  the 
wonders  of  the  world,  seemed  to  augur  well  for  their  alliance 
with  the  Church.  Yet  the  event  shows  that  these  expecta- 
tions were  unfounded,  and  that  wherever  the  type  of  civilisa- 
tion was  formed  mainly  by  commercial  enterprise,  there  arose 
a  conflict  with  the  theologians. 

The  first  point  in  which  the  commercial  civilisation  came 
into  collision  with  the  Church  was  the  lawfulness  of  lending 
money  at  interest,  or,  as  it  was  then  culled,  of  practising 
usury. 

In  the  present  day,  when  political  economy  has  been 
raised  to  a  science,  nothing  can  appear  more  simple  than  thu 

r 

position  that  interest  occupies  in  pecuniary  arrangement!*. 
We  know  that,  in  a  society  in  which  urcat  works  of  indus- 
.ry  or  public  utility  are  carried  on,  immense  sums  will  neces- 
sarily be  borrowed  at  interest,  and  that  such  transactions  are 


242  RATIONALISM   IX   ECTEOPE. 

usually  advantageous  both  to  the  lender  and  the  borrower 
The  first  lends  his  money  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  hia 
wealth  by  the  interest  he  receives  ;  the  second  obtains  the 
advantage  of  disposing  of  a  sum  which  is  sufficient  to  set  in 
motion  a  lucrative  business,  and  this  advantage  more  than 
compensates  him  for  the  interest  he  pays.  We  know,  too, 
that  this  interest  is  not  capricious  in  its  amount,  but  is  gov- 
erned by  fixed  laws.  It  usually  consists  of  two  distinct  ele- 
ments— the  interest  which  is  the  price  of  money,  and  what 
has  been  termed  '  the  '  interest  of  assurance.'  The  price  of 
money,  like  the  price  of  most  other  commodities,  is  deter- 
mined by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.8  It  depends  upon 
the  proportion  between  the  amount  of  money  that  is  to  be 
lent  and  the  demands  of  the  borrowers,  which  proportion  is 
itself  influenced  by  many  considerations,  but  is  chiefly  regu- 
lated in  a  normal  state  of  society  by  the  amount  of  wealth 
and  the  amount  of  enterprise.  The  second  kind  of  interest 
arises  in  those  cases  in  which  there  is  some  danger  that  the 
creditor  may  lose  what  he  has  lent,  or  in  which  some  penalty, 

1  By  J.  B.  Say,  in  his  Trail!:  d'Econoinie  P<Jit'«juf,  where  the  subject  of 
usury  is  admirably  discussed.     The  term,  '  interest   of  assurance,' however, 
is  defective,  because  it  does  not   comprise  the   opprobrium   cast   upon   the 
lender,  which  is  one  great  cause  of  the  extraordinary  rise  of  interest. 

2  As  this  i-  not  a  treatise  of  Political  Economy,  the   reader  will,  I  trust, 
pardon  my  adopting  this  old  and  simple  formulary,  without  entering  at  length 
into  the  controversy  created  by  the  new  formulary  of  liicardo — that  price  ia 
regulated  by  the  cost  of  production.     In  the  vast  majority  of  case.s  these 
two  formularies  lead  to  exactly  the  same  result,  and  the  principal  advantage 
;if  that  of  Hicardo  seems  to  be,  first,  that  in  some  cases  it  gives  greater  pro- 
ci-ion  than  the  other,  and  secondly,  that  it  supplements  the  other,  meeting  a 
few  ca.-fs   to  which   the   old   formulary  will   not   apply.      In   determining    the 
value  of  the  precious  rnetals  as  measured  by  other  thing- — that  is  to  say.  as 
reflected  in  prices — the  rule  of  Kicardo   seems  most   satisfactory:   in  deter- 
mining the  normal    rate   of  interest,  the  old    rule   is,  I    think,  perfectly  ude- 
uuate.     There  are  f-ome  good  remarks  on  this  in  Chevallier,  EHJH.  J'u'it.  sec 
v.  c.  1. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  243 

inflicted  by  law  or  by  public  opinion,  attaches  to  tlie  loan. 
For  it  is  manifest  that  men  will  not  divert  their  capital  from 
secure  to  insecure  enterprises  unless  there  is  a  possibility 
that  they  may  obtain  a  larger  gain  in  the  latter  than  in  th« 
former,  and  it  is  equally  manifest  that  no  one  will  voluntarily 
take  a  course  that  exposes  him  to  legal  penalties  or  to  public 
reproach  unless  he  has  some  pressing  motive  for  doing  so. 

If,  then,  when  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  has  regu- 
lated the  rate  of  interest,  the  government  of  the  country  in- 
terposes, and  either  prohibits  all  interest  or  endeavours  to 
fix  it  at  a  lower  rate;  if  public  opinion  stigmatises  the  lender 
it  interest  as  infamous,  and  if  religion  brands  his  act  as  a 
crime,  it  is  easy  from  the  foregoing  principles  to  perceive 
what  must  be  the  consequence.  As  long  as  there  are  persons 
who  iirgently  desire  to  borrow,  and  persons  who  possess  cap- 
ital, it  is  quite  certain  that  the  relation  of  debtor  and  creditor 
will  continue;  but  the  former  will  find  that  the  terms  have 
greatly  altered  to  his  disadvantage.  For  the  capitalist  will 
certainly  not  lend  without  exacting  interest,  and  such  inter- 
est as  is  at  least  equivalent  to  the  profits  lie  would  derive  if 
he  employed  his  money  in  other  ways.  If  the  law  forbids 
this,  he  must  cither  not  lend,  or  lend  in  a  manner  that  ex- 
poses him  to  legal  penalties.  A  great  number,  overcome  by 
their  scruples  or  their  fears,  will  adopt  the  former  course,  and 
consequently  the  amount  of  money  in  the  community  which 
is  to  be  lent,  and  which  is  one  of  the  great  regulators  of  the 
price  of  money,  will  be  diminished;  while  those  who  venture 
In  incur  the  risk  of  infringing  human,  and.  as  they  believe,  Di 
v;ne  laws,  nnd  of  incurring  the  infamy  attached  by  public 
opinion  to  the  act.  must  be  bribed  by  additional  interest.  At 
the  same  time  the  furtive  character  given  to  the  transaction 
is  eminently  favourable  to  imposition.  The  more-  therei'on; 


244  RATIONALISM   IN   EUEOPE. 

law,  public  opinion,  and  religion  endeavour  to  lower  the  cur 
rent  rate  of  interest,  the  more  that  rate  will  be  raised. 

But  these  principles,  simple  as  they  may  now  appear, 
were  entirely  unknown  to  the  ancients,  and  from  an  extreme- 
ly early  period  the  exaction  of  interest  was  looked  upon  with 
disfavour.  The  origin  of  this  prejudice  is  probably  to  be 
found  in  the  utter  ignorance  of  all  uncivilised  men  about  the 
laws  that  regulate  the  increase  of  wealth,  and  also  in  that 
early  and  universal  sentiment  which  exalts  prodigality  above 
parsimony.  At  all  times  and  in  all  nations  this  preference 
has  been  shown,  and  there  is  no  literature  in  which  it  has 
not  been  reflected.  From  the  time  of  Thespis  downwards,  as 
Bentham  reminds  us,  there  is  scarcely  an  instance  in  which  a 
lender  and  a  borrower  have  appeared  upon  the  stage  without 
the  sympathies  of  the  audience  being  claimed  for  the  latter. 
The  more  ignorant  the  people,  the  more  strong  will  be  tins 
prejudice  ;  and  it  is  therefore  not  surprising  that  those  who 
were  the  preeminent  representatives  of  parsimony,  who  were 
constantly  increasing  their  wealth  in  a  way  that  was  so  dif- 
ferent from  the  ordinary  forms  of  industry,  and  who  often 
appeared  in  the  odious  light  of  oppressors  of  the  poor,  should 
have  been  from  the  earliest  times  regarded  with  dislike. 
Aristotle  and  many  other  of  the  Greek  philosophers  cordially 
adopted  the  popular  view;  but  at  the  same  time  money- 
lending  among  the  Greeks  was  a  common  though  a  despised 
profession,  and  was  little  or  not  at  all  molested  by  authority. 
\mong  the  Gauls  it  was  placed  under  the  special  patronage 
of  Mercury.  In  Rome  also  it  was  authorised  by  law,  though 
the  legislators  constantly  sought  to  regulate  its  terms,  and 
though  both  the  philosophers  and  the  people  at  large  branded 
the  money-lenders  as  the  main  cause  of  the  decline  of  the 
empire.  The  immense  advantages  that  capital  possesses  in  ;t 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  245 

slave-country,  and  the  craving  for  luxury  that  was  univer- 
sal, combined  with  the  insecurity  produced  by  general  mal- 
administration and  corruption,  and  by  frequent  tumults 
created  with  the  express  object  of  freeing  the  plebeians  from 
their  debts,  had  raised  the  ordinary  rate  of  interest  to  an 
enormous  extent ;  and  this,  which  was  in  truth  a  symptom 
of  the  diseased  condition  of  society,  was  usually  regarded  as 
the  cause.  At  the  same  time  the  extreme  severity  with 
which  Roman  legislation  treated  insolvent  debtors  exasper- 
ated the  people  to  the  highest  point  against  the  exacting 
creditor,  while,  for  the  reasons  I  have  already  stated,  the 
popular  hatred  of  the  usurers  and  the  interference  of  legisla- 
tors with  their  trade  still  further  aggravated  the  evil.  Be- 
sides this,  it  should  be  observed  that  when  public  opinion 
stigmatises  money-lending  as  criminal,  great  industrial  enter- 
prises that  rest  upon  it  will  be  unknown.  Those  who  borrow 
will  therefore  for  the  most  part  borrow  on  account  of  some 
urgent  necessity,  and  the  fact  that  interest  is  wealth  made 
from  the  poverty  of  others  will  increase  the  prejudice 
against  it. 

"When  the  subject  came  under  the  notice  of  the  Fathers 
and  of  the.  mediaeval  writers,  it  was  treated  with  unhesitating 
emphasis.  All  the  pagan  notions  of  the  iniquity  of  money- 
lending  were  unanimously  adopted,  strengthened  by  the 
hostility  to  wealth  which  early  Christianity  constantly  incul 
catcd,  and  enforced  with  such  a  degree  of  authority  and  of 
persistence  that  the1}*  soon  passed  into  nearly  every  legisla- 
tive code.  Turgot  and  some  other  writers  of  the  eighteenth 
century  have  endeavoured  to  establish  a  distinction  between 
more  or  less  rigorous  theologians  on  this  subject.  In  fact, 
however,  as  any  on?  who  glances  over  the  authorities  that 
have  been  collected  bv  the  old  controversialists  on  the  sub- 


246  EATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

ject  may  convince  himself,  there  was  a  perfect  unanimity  o^ 
the  general  principles  connected  with  usury  till  the  casuists 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  although  there  were  many  con- 
troversies about  their  special  applications.1  A  radical  mis- 
conception of  the  nature  of  interest  ran  through  all  the 
writings  of  the  Fathers,  of  the  mediaeval  theologians,  and  of 
the  theologians  of  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  and  produced 
a  code  of  commercial  morality  that  appears  with  equal  clear- 
ness in  the  Patristic  invectives,  in  the  decrees  of  the  Councils, 
and  in  nearly  every  book  that  has  ever  been  written  on  the 
Canon  Law.  The  difference  between  theologians  was  not 
in  what  they  taught,  but  in  the  degree  of  emphasis  with 
which  they  taught  it.  There  were  no  doubt  times  in  which 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  fell  into  comparative  desuetude: 
there  were  times  Avhen  usury  was  very  generally  practised, 
and  not  very  generally  condemned.  There  are  even  a  few 
examples  of  Councils  which,  without  in  any  degree  justifying 
usury,  contented  themselves  with  expressly  censuring  priests 
who  had  practised  it.2  But  at  the  same  time  there  is  a  long 

All  the  old  Catholic  works  on  the  Canon  Law  and  on  Moral  Philosophy 
show  this,  but  I  may  especially  indicate  Concilia,  AJi-crnus  L'suraiii  (Rom;e, 
17 K'));  Concilia,  Usura  Contractas  trini  (Uomre,  1748);  Leotardus,  ]>e 
Uxnris  (Lugduni,  10-19);  Lamet  et  Fromagean,  Didlonnalrc  dcs  Cos  de  Con- 
wicncc  (a  collection  of  the  decisions  of  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne),  art. 
Usnre  (Paris,  1733);  and  Co/if ircncfs  Jl'c'i't'ntxtiiji'rs  de -Paris  si/r  VUsure 
(Paris,  1718).  This  last  work  was  published  under  the  direction  or,  at  all 
events,  patronage  of  Cardinal  de  Xoailles,  and  contains  a  very  large  arao'inl 
of  information  on  the  subject.  It  went  through  several  editions  :  the  lirst 
was  published  in  1097.  '-;ee  too  Liegcois,  J^'smii  aur  Nlhtulrc,  et  In  L'ghla- 
ti-',n  di  T  Uxurc. 

a  This  appears  to  have  been  the  case  in  England,  where  the  laxity  ois  the 
(Subject  was  considerable,  '11  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  (-ee  Antler- 
pon,  Jllxt.  f'f  Cf'iiinif-r''c,  vol.  i.  pp.  70-1]  3).  Only  a  month  before,  the  Coun- 
cil of  Nice,  Constantino  had  continued  the  old  Unman  law  which  legalised  an 
interest  of  I-  per  cent.  ;  and  it  was  probably  the  desire  to  avoid  collision 
frith  the  civil  power  that  dietat-d  the  language  of  a  curious  decree  of  tin 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  247 

nnbroken  chain  of  unequivocal  condemnations,  extending 
from  the  period  of  the  Fathers  to  the  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion 

The  doctrine  of  the  Church  has  been  involved  in  some 
little  obscurity  on  account  of  the  total  change  that  has 
Liken  place  during  the  last  three  centuries  in  the  meaning 
of  the  word  usury,  and  also  on  account  of  the  many  subtle- 
ties with  which  the  casuists  surrounded  it ;  but  if  the  reader 
will  pardon  a  somewhat  pedantic  array  of  definitions,  it  will 
be  easy  in  a  few  words  to  disentangle  it  from  all  ambiguity. 

Usury,  then,  according  to  the  unanimous  teaching  of  the 
old  theologians,  consisted  of  any  interest  that  was  exacted 
by  the  lender  from  the  borrower  solely  as  the  price  of  the 
loan.1  Its  nature  was,  therefore,  entirely  independent  of  the 
amount  that  was  asked,  and  of  the  civil  laws  upon  the  sub- 
Council,  in  which  usury  is  condemned  only  when  practised  by  clergymen,  but 
at  the  same  time  is  condemned  on  grounds  that  are  equally  applicable  to  lay- 
men :  '  Quoniam  multi  sub  regula  constituti  avaritiam  ct  turpia  lucra  seetan- 
tur,  oblitique  divime  S;criptune  dieentis,  "  Qui  pecuniam  suam  non  dedit  ad 
usuram,"  inutuum  dautes  centesimas  exigunt ;  juste  censuit  saneta  ct  magna 
pyuodus  ut  si  quis  invent  us  fueiit  post,  lianc  definitioiiem  usuras  accipicns 
.  dejteiatur  a  clcro  et  alienus  cxistat  a  regula.'  (See  Troplong, 
Mi'itmiresur  le  Pri-tdF Intent,  read  before  the  Institute  in  1*11.)  But  the 
Council  of  Kliberis,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  and  the  Third 
and  Fourth  Councils  of  Carthage,  expressly  condemned  usury  in  laymen. 

1  The  following  were  the  principal  definitions  of  usury  employed  by  the 
writers  on  Canon  Law  : — 1.  Usura  cst  pretium  usus  peetmue  mutuata.1.  L>. 
Lucrum  immediate  ex  mntuo  proveniens.  3.  l.'snra  e.-t  cum  quis  plus  exigat 
in  pecunia  aut  in  aliqua  re  quam  dederit.  4.  Ultra  sovtcm  hu'rum  aliquod. 
jp.-ius  ratione  mutui  exaetum. — This  last,  is  the  definition  of  Benedict  XIV. 
Mehinchthon  defined  u.-ury  nearly  in  the  same  \\ay  :  '  I'sura  est  lucrnm  supui 
sortem  exaetum  tantinu  propter  ollieium  mutuationis.'  To  this  I  may  add 
the  descri]ition  given  by  St.  Augustine  of  th"  MII  :  'Si  fo'iieraveris  homini,  id 
cst  miiltiam  ])eeuniam  dederis,  a  <|iio  aliquid  plus  quam  dedi>ti  e\;ieeta.J 
aecipcre,  non  pecuniam  solam  >ed  aliquid  plus  quam  iledisti,  >ive  illud  ti'iii 
cum  sit,  sive  vinum,  sive  oleum,  >ive  quodliljet  aliud,  >i  jihis  (|ii;im  ileilisti 
expectas  aceipcre  favuerator  es  et  in  hoc  improbaiidns  non  laudandus '  i^Sei 
mon  iii.  on  Psalm  xxxvi.j. — See  Coneiiia,  .l'/<r,-,o/.v  ( ~x, /•,•</, i*.  pp.  :;•_'.  ".:;. 


248  KATIONALISM   EST   EUROPE. 

ject.  Those  who  lent  money  at  three  per  cent,  were  com- 
mitting usury  quite  as  really  as  those  who  lent  it  at  forty 
per  cent.,1  and  those  who  lent  money  at  interest  in  a  country 
where  there  was  no  law  upon  the  subject  as  those  who  lent 
it  in  defiance  of  the  most  stringent  prohibitions.2  It  is  not, 
however,  to  be  inferred  from  this  that  everything  of  the 
nature  of  interest  was  forbidden.  In  the  first  place,  there 
was  the  case  of  permanent  alienation  of  capital.  A  mail 
might  deprive  himself  for  ever  of  a  certain  sum,  and  receive 
instead  an  annual  revenue ;  for  in  this  case  he  was  not  re- 
ceiving the  price  of  a  loan,  as  a  loan  implies  the  ultimate 
restitution  of  that  which  had  been  lent.  There  is  some 
reason  to  believe  that  this  modification  was  introduced  at  a 
late  period,  when  the  rise  of  industrial  enterprises  had  begun 
to  show  the  ruinous  character  of  the  doctrine  of  usury ;  but 
at  all  events  the  distinction  was  generally  adopted,  and  be- 
came the  cornerstone  of  a  laro-e  amount  of  legislation.*  In 

o  o 

1  In  1677,  when  much  casuistry  had  been  already  applied  to  the  subject, 
some  one  submitted  this  point  to  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonue.  Their  decision 
was  :  '  Quo  Titius  ue  seroit  pas  exempt  d'usure  en  ne  prenant  que  trois  pour 
cent  d'interet,  parceque  tout  profit  et  tout  gain  tiro  du  pret,  si  petit  qu'il 
puisse  etre,  fait  1'usure.  L'Ezechiel  au  ch.  xviii.  ne  fait  point  de  distinction 
du  plus  on  du  moins.' — Lamct  et  Fromageau,  Diet,  dca  Cas  dc  Conscience 
(Art.  Usure). 

-  Thus  Innocent  XI.  condemned  the  proposition,  '  l'sm-a  non  cst  dum 
ultra  sortein  aliquid  exigitur  tauquam  ex  heiievolcntia  et  gratitudine  debitum, 
Fed  soluui  si  cxigatur  tanquara  ex  justitia  debitum.' — See  Conferences  snr 
1' Ustire,  torn.  i.  p.  100. 

'  Tandis  que  le  cri  des  pcuples  centre  le  pret  a  inteivt  le  faisait  pros- 
crrre,  1'impossibilite  de  1'abolir  eutierement  lit  hnaginer  la  subtilite  de  Talio- 
aation  du  capital;  et  c'est  ce  systeme  qui  etant  devcnu  presque general  panni 
les  theologians  a  etc  adopto  uussi  par  les  jurisconsultes,  a  raison  de  1  influ- 
ence beat/coup  trop  gnuide  qu'ont  eue  sur  notre  jurisprudence  et  notre  leiris- 
lation  les  priucipes  du  droit  canon.'  (Tursrot,  Mim.  snr  les  l'r<t$  d'Arr/ent, 
$  -'*.)  Some  seem  to  have  tried  to  justify  usury  on  the  condition  of  the 
lender  obliging  himself  not  to  demand  his  money  till  a  certain  period,  for  we 
find  Alexander  VII.  condemning  the  proposition,  '  Quod  sit  licitum  mntuanti 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  249 

(lie  next  place,  there  were  certain  cases  in  which  a  lender 
might  claim  interest  from  his  debtor — not  as  the  price  of 
the  loan,  not  as  a  rent  exacted  for  the  use  of  inoney — but  on 
other  grounds  which  were  defined  by  theologians,  and  which 
were,  or  were  at  least  believed  to  be,  entirely  distinct,1 
Such  were  the  cases  known  among  the  schoolmen  under  the 
titles  of  '  damnum  emergens '  and  '  lucrum  cessans.'  If  a 
man  was  so  situated  that,  by  withdrawing  a  portion  of  his 
capital  from  the  business  in  which  he  was  engaged,  he  would 
suffer  a  palpable  and  unquestionable  loss,  and  if  for  the  pur- 
pose of  assisting  his  neighbour  he  consented  to  withdraw  a 
certain  sum,  he  might  stipulate  a  compensation  for  the  loss 
he  thus  incurred.  He  was  not  lending  money  for  the  pur- 
pose of  gaining  money  by  the  transaction,  and  the  interest 
he  exacted  was  solely  a  compensation  for  a  loss  he  had 
actually  sustained.  In  the  same  way,  if  a  man  was  able  to 
apply  money  to  a  purpose  that  would  bring  a  certain  gain, 
and  if  he  consented  to  divert  a  certain  sum  from  this  channel 
in  order  to  lend  it  to  a  friend,  it  Avas  generally  (but  by  no 
means  always2)  believed  that  he  might  receive  an  exact 
equivalent  for  the  sacrifice  he  had  unquestionably  made. 
The  question,  too,  of  insurances  was  early  raised,  arid  created 
a  cloud  of  the  most  subtle  distinctions :  so,  too,  did  those 
great  lending  societies,  which  were  founded  in  Italy  by  Ber- 
nardin  de  Feltre,  under  the  title  of  'Monti  di  Pietn,'  for  the 
purpose  of  counteracting  the  usury  of  the  Jews.  Their  ob- 

^liquid  ultra  sortein  exiiroiv,  inodo  se  obliuvt  ad  11011  repetendum  sortcm 
n?quo  ad  certain  f.empus.'  (f.'»,ififi-n<'cs  mtr  /'  Cmire,  torn,  i.  p.  lOu.) 

1  Those  cases,  of  which  I  have  only  notieed  the  principal,  and  which  were 
many  of  them  very  complicated,  were  dismissed  with  much  detail  by  the  doc- 
tors of  the  Sorl'oune.  See  Lamet  et  Fromageau  ;  see  also  the  Mi'i/m'ire  of 
Troplonjr, 

1  l?t   Thoma?  Anuiuas  was  l>dieved  to  lie  hostile  to  this  indiil^i'iicc. 


250  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

ject  was  to  lend  money  to  the  poor  without  interest,  bin 
very  soon  a  small  sum  was  exacted  in  return,  in  addition  to 
what  had  been  lent.  This  was  very  naturally  stigmatised  as 
usury,  because,  as  we  have  seen,  usury  was  entirely  irre- 
spective of  the  amount  that  was  asked ;  but  some  theolo- 
gians maintained,  and  Leo  X.  at  last  decided  by  a  bull,  that 
this  exaction  was  not  usurious,  because  it  was  simply  a  fee 
for  the  payment  of  the  officials  connected  with  the  establish- 
ments, and  not  the  price  of  the  loan.1 

These  examples  will  serve  to  show  the  general  character 
that  controversies  on  usury  assumed.  Above  all  the  compli- 
cations and  subtleties  with  which  the  subject  was  surround- 
ed, one  plain  intelligible  principle  remained — the  loan  of 
money  was  an  illicit  way  of  acquiring  wealth.  In  other 
words,  any  one  who  engaged  in  any  speculation  in  which  the 
increase  of  his  capital  by  interest  was  the  object  had  com- 
mitted usury,  and  was  therefore  condemned  by  the  Church. 
It  is  said  that  after  the  twelfth  century  the  lawfulness  of 
usury  was  a  popular  tenet  among  the  Greeks ; 2  but  before 
this  time  the  teaching  of  theologians  on  the  subject  seems  to 
have  been  perfectly  unanimous,  and  with  this  exception  it 
continued  to  be  so  till  the  Reformation.  Usury  was  not  only 
regarded  as  an  ecclesiastical  crime,  but  was  also,  as  far  as  the 
Church  could  influence  the  legislators,  a  civil  one,  and  it  was 
especially  singled  out  as  one  that  should  be  investigated 
with  torture.3 

1  Besides  Lamet  and  Fromageau,  there  is  a  discussion  as  to  'Mcnti  li 
Pieta'  in  Escobar's  Moral  Philosophy. 

2  Confirmees  sur  Z'  LTsure,  torn.  i.  p.  23.     Salclles.  De  Mattrlis  Triluna- 
Hum  Inquisitionis  (Roma1,    1051),   torn.  ii.  p.    156.     According   to   Cibrario 
(Economia  Politico,  dd  Media  Evo,  vol.  Ii.  p.  52),  a  heretic  named  Becli,  who 
was  burnt  in  Piedmont  in  1388,  was  accused  among  other  things  of  haviiiff 
maintained  that  '  incest  and  usury  are  not  sins.' 

3  Chartario,  Praxis  Inten'or/aiidantm  Rcruni  (Rom;e,  1618),  p.  201 


THE   INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY    OF   RATIONALISM.  251 

Such  then  was  the  doctrine  of  theologians.  It  rein  (tins 
to  examine  for  a  moment  the  arguments  on  which  it  was 
based.  The  first  of  these  in  the  present  day  appears  very 
startling.  It  was  said  that  usury,  however  moderate,  is 
one  of  those  crimes,  like  murder  or  robbery,  that  are  pal- 
pably contrary  to  the  law  of  nature.  This  was  shown  by  the 
general  consent  of  all  nations  against  it,  and  also  by  a  con- 
sideration of  the  nature  of  money;  for  'all  money  is  sterile 
by  nature,'  '  and  therefore  to  expect  profit  from  it  is  absurd. 
The  essence  of  every  equitable  loan  is,  that  precisely  that 
which  was  lent  should  be  returned;  and  therefore,  as  Lac- 
tantius  maintained,  and  as  the  mediaeval  moralists  unani- 
mously repeated,  to  exact  interest  is  a  species  of  robbery.  It 
is  true  that  it  might  naturally  occur  to  the  minds  even  of 
mediaeval  theologians  that  houses  or  horses  were  sometimes 
lent  at  a  fixed  rent,  which  was  paid  notwithstanding  their 
restitution.  But  this  difficulty  was  answered  by  a  very 
subtle  distinction,  Avhich  if  it  was  not  originated  was  at  least 

1  This  is  ;<n  absurdity  of  Aristotle,  and  the  number  of  centuries  during 
which  it  was  incessantly  asserted  without  being  (as  far  as  we  know)  once 
questioned  is  a  curious  illustration  of  the  longevity  of  a  sophism  when  ex- 
pressed in  a  terse  form  and  sheltered  by  a  great  name.  It  is  enough  to  make 
one  ashamed  of  one's  species  to  think  that  Bentham  was  the  first  to  bring 
into  notice  the  simple  consideration  that  if  the  borrower  employs  the  bor- 
rowed money  in  buying  bulls  and  cows,  and  if  these  produce  calves  to  ten 
times  the  value  of  the  interest,  the  money  sorrowed  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
be  sterile  or  the  borrower  a  loser.  The  Greek  word  for  intere>t  (rrko?,  from 
TIK.TU,  I  beget)  was  probably  connected  with  this  delusion.  Besides  a  host 
of  theologians,  the  notion  that  usury  was  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature  was 
maintained  by  Dornat,  one  of  the  greatest  names  in  French  jurisprudence. 
Leo  X.  condemned  usury  on  the  following  grounds:  'Doiuinus  noster,  Luei 
ittestante,  aperte  nos  pnecepto  adstrinsit  ne  ex  dato  mutuo  qnidquam  ulna 
fortem  speraremus  ;  est  eiiim  prnpria  usurarum  intorpretatio  quando  vide- 
licet ex  usuru,  rei  quae  non  germinat  de  nullo  labor?,  nullo  sumptu,  nullo  peri' 
culo,  luerum  frenusquc  conquiri  studctur.'  (Con  ft ' r> /x.r.<  . *••«/•/'  L  ^ic/~>,  torn.  '. 
u.  U>n.) 


252  RATIONALISM   EST   EUROPE. 

chiefly  developed  by  St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  The  use  of  a 
horse  may  be  distinguished,  at  least  by  the  intellect,  from 
the  horse  itself.  Men  borrow  a  horse  and  afterwards  restore 
it,  but  the  usage  of  the  horse  has  been  a  distinct  advantage, 
foi  which  they  may  lawfully  pay ;  but  in  the  case  of  money, 
which  is  consumed  in  the  usage,  the  thing  itself  has  no  value 
distinct  from  its  usage.  When  therefore  a  man  restores  the 
exact  sum  he  has  borrowed,  he  has  done  all  that  can  be  re- 
quired of  him,  because  to  make  him  pay  for  the  usage  of  this 
money  is  to  make  him  pay  for  a  thing  that  does  not  exist,  or, 
perhaps  more  correctly,  to  make  him  pay  twice  for  the  same 
thing,  and  is  therefore,  said  St.  Thomas,  dishonest.1 

This  was  one  branch  of  the  argument ;  the  other  was  de 
rived  from  authority.  The  political  economy  of  the  Fathers 
was  received  with  implicit  faith,  and  a  long  series  of  passages 
of  Scripture  were  cited  which  were  universally  regarded  as 
condemnatory  of  usury.3  As  it  is  quite  certain  that  commer- 
cial and  industrial  enterprise  cannot  be  carried  on  on  a  large 
scale  without  borrowing,  and  as  it  is  equally  certain  that 
these  loans  can  only  be  effected  by  paying  for  them  in  the 

1  The  views  of  St.  Thomas  (who  was  one  of  the  chief  authorities  on  the 
subject)  are  in  the  Summa,  Pars  ii.  Qua:st.  78.  At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  they  were  drawn  up  with  great  elaboration  by  a  writer  named 
Pothicr,  and  torn  to  pieces  by  Turgot  (Mim.  sur  Ics  Pnts  d'Arycnt,  §  26,  27). 
The  argument  as  I  have  stated  it  is,  I  know,  very  obscure,  but  I  venture  to 
tl  ink  that  is  chiefly  the  fault  of  St.  Thomas. 

The  chief  passages  cited  were — Lev.  xxv.  3tl,  l)cut  xxiii.  19,  Ps.  xv.  5, 
Eitk.  xviii.,  and  (from  the  Xew  Testament)  Luke  vi.  o5.  As  Turgot  notices, 
the  popular  interpretation  of  this  last  passage  was  peculiarly  inexcusable  in 
Catholics,  who  always  interpret  the  injunctions  that  surround  it  as  '  counsels 
of  perfection,1  net  obligatory  on  every  man.  Yet  Bossuet  was  able  to  say, 
'Lit  tradition  con-vtante  des  conciles,  it  commencer  par  les  plus  anciens,  celle 
des  Papes,  des  pcres,  des  interpretes  et  de  1'Eglise  Romaine,  est  d'intcrpreter 
ce  vcrset,  "  Mutuum  date  nihil  inde  sperantes,"  comme  prohibitif  du  profit 
(ju'on  tire  du  pri.-t ;  ''hide"  c'est  k  dire  de  1'usure.'  (2nde  Pastorale,  contrt 
'ti  T'f/'-i/o/'  <lc  lt't'har'1  Simon.) 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  253 

shape  of  interest,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  Church 
had  cursed  the  material  development  of  civilisation.  As  long 
as  her  doctrine  of  usury  was  believed  and  acted  on,  the  arm 
of  industry  was  paralysed,  the  expansion  of  commerce  was 
arrested,  and  all  the  countless  blessings  that  have  flowed 
from  them  were  withheld.1  As,  however,  it  is  impossible  for 
a  society  that  is  even  moderately  civilised  to  continue  with- 
out usury,  we  find,  from  a  very  early  period,  a  certain  antag- 
onism existing  on  this  subject  between  the  civil  law  and 
the  Church.  The  denunciations  of  the  Fathers  were  soon 
succeeded  by  a  long  series  of  Councils  which  unanimously 
condemned  usurers,  and  the  canonical  law  is  crowded  with 
enactments  against  them;  but  at  the  same  time  kings  found 
it  constantly  necessary  to  borrow  for  the  equipment  of  their 
armies,  and  they  very  naturally  shrank  from  suppressing  a 
class  to  which  they  had  recourse.  Edward  the  Confessor  in 
deed  in  England,  St.  Lewis  in  France,2  and  a  few  other  sov- 

1  Montesquieu,  speaking  of  the  scholastic  writings  on  usury,  says,  with 
a  little  exaggeration,  '  Aiusi  nous  elevens  aux  speculations  cles  Scholastiquea 
touts  les  malheurs  qui  ont  accompagne  la  destruction  du  commerce '  (Esprit 
des  Lois,  lib.  xxi.  c.  20) ;  and  Turgot,  '  L'observation  rigoureuse  de  ces  lois 
serait  destructive  de  tout  commerce ;  aussi  ne  sont-elles  pas  observers  rigou- 
reusernent.     Elles  interdisent  toute  stipulation  d'iuteret  sans  alienation  du 
capital.     .     .     .     Et  c'est  une  chose  notoire  qu'il  n'y  a  pas  sur  la  terre  line 
place  de  commerce  ou  la  plus  grande  partie  du  commerce  ne  roule  surl'argent 
emprnnte  sans  alienation  du  capital '(  Mini,  sur  les  Prets  d? Argent,  §  xiv.). 
M.  Sismondi  has  justly  observed  (Nouvcaux  Principcs  <f  Economic  Politique) 
that  the  prohibition  of  usury  in  Catholic  countries  lias  also  done  very  much 
to  promote  a  passion  for  luxury,  and  to  discourage  economy — the  rich  who 
were  not  engaged  in  business  finding  no  easy  way  of  employing  their  savings 
pi  oductivoly. 

2  Confirming  in  this  respect  a  French  law  of  the  eighth  and  ninth  century 
which  provided  that  '  Usuram  mm  solum  clcrici,  sed  nee  laici   Christian!,  ex- 
igere  debent.'     Some  think  Justinian  prohibited  usury,  but  there  is  a  good 
deal  of   dispute  about  this.     Richard   I.   of   England  '  Christianum   fn-nera- 
tor«'in  fieri  prohibuit  aut  quaeuin[ue  conventions  occasione  illiquid  roeipero 
ultra  id  quod  mutiio  coi'.'essii  '  ^/l.--i'uif'in  Chrwiicon}.     Some  govrrtinr-  madij 


254 


KATTONAI.ISM  EN  EUROPE. 


ereigns  of  remarkable  piety,  took  this  extreme  step ;  but  gen- 
erally usury,  though  not  altogether  recognised,  was  in  some 
degree  connived  at.  Besides,  to  lend  was  esteemed  much 
more  sinful  than  to  borrow,1  and  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
middle  ages  the  usurers  were  almost  exclusively  Jews,  who 
had  no  scruples  on  the  subject,  and  who  had  adopted  this 
profession  partly  because  of  the  great  profits  they  could  de- 
rive from  it,  and  partly  because  it  was  almost  the  only  one 
open  to  them.  It  was  not  till  the  close  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury that  Christian  money-lenders  became  numerous,  and  the 
rise  of  this  class  was  the  immediate  consequence  of  the  com- 
mercial development  of  the  Italian  republics.  The  Lom- 
bards soon  became  the  rivals  of  the  Jews  ;  -  the  merchants  of 
Florence  carried  on  usury  to  a  still  greater  extent,3  and  for 
f.he  first  time  this  was  done  openly,  with  the  full  sanction 
both  of  law  and  public  opinion.  From  Italy  usury  passed  to 
France  and  England ; 4  and  the  Third  Council  of  the  Lateran,6 
which  was  convened  by  Alexander  III.,  in  1179,  complained 
that  it  had  so  increased  that  it  was  almost  everywhere  prac- 
tised. The  same  Council  endeavoured  to  arrest  it  by  decree- 
ing that  no  notorious  and  impenitent  usurer  should  be  admit- 
ted to  the  altar  should  be  absolved  at  the  hour  of  death,  or 

it  a  law  that  the  property  of  those  who  had  been  usurers  might  be  confis- 
cated by  the  crown  after  their  death  (Cibrario,  Ecouomia  Politico,  del  Media 
Evo,  vol.  iii.  p.  319).  This  arrangement  had  a  double  advantage:  the  gov- 
ernment might  borrow  money  from  the  usurer  while  lie  was  living,  and  rob 
iiis  children  when  he  was  dead. 

1  Aeeording  to  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne.  it  was  sinful  to  borrow  at 
•3-iry  except  under  extreme  necessity,  but  the  whole  stress  of  the  denuncia- 
tions was  directed  against  the  lenders. 

3  Bedunide,  //is/,  dcs  Juifs,  pp.  180-189. 

3  Muralori,  Aiiiiq.   ItaU<'ci>,   dissert,  xvi. — a  good  history  of  the  rise  of 
Christian  usurers. 

4  Ibid. 

*   Tbid.     This  Council  is  reckoned  a  gincral  one  bv  the  Catholic's 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  255 

should  receive  Christian  burial.'  All  this,  however,  was  in 
vain  :  the  expansion  of  commercial  enterprise  became  every 
year  more  marked,  and  the  increase  of  usury  was  its  ne^es- 
sary  consequence. 

In  this  manner  the  rise  of  an  industrial  civilisation  pro- 
duced a  distinct  opposition  between  the  practice  of  Christen- 
dom and  the  teaching  of  the  Church.  On  the  one  hand,  to 
lend  money  at  interest  became  a  constant  and  recognised 
transaction,  and  the  more  the  laws  of  wealth  were  under- 
stood, the  more  evident  it  became  that  it  was  both  necessary 
and  innocent.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  no  subject  in 
the  whole  compass  of  Catholic  theology  on  which  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Church  was  more  unequivocal.4  Usury  had  always 
been  defined  as  any  sum  that  was  exacted  as  the  price  of  a 
loan,  and  it  had  been  condemned  with  unqualified  severity 
by  the  Fathers,  by  a  long  series  of  Popes  and  Councils,  by 
the  most  eminent  of  the  mediaeval  theologians,  and  by  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  Church.  The  result  of  this  conflict 
evidently  depended  on  the  comparative  prevalence  of  dog- 
matic and  rationalistic  modes  of  thought.  As  long  as  men 
derived  their  notions  of  duty  from  authority  and  tradition, 
they  would  adopt  one  conclusion;  when  they  began  to  inter- 
rogate their  own  sense  of  right,  they  would  soon  arrive  at 
another. 

The  sequel  of  the  history  of  usury  is  soon  told.     The  Kef- 

1  Ibi'1.  The  Council  of  Yienno,  presided  over  by  Clement  Y.,  pro- 
liounccd  it  to  be  heretical  to  justify  usury :  '  Sane  si  quis  in  istum  errorein 
hdJerit,  ut  pcrtinaciter  aflirmare  pnesumat  exereere  nsuras  non  essc  pecea- 
tum,  decernimus  cum  velut  lueretieum  puniendum.'  [Conferences  sur  V  Uxure, 
torn.  i.  p.  93.) 

3  According  to  Coneina,  usury  has  been  condemned  by  twenty-eight  Coun- 
cils (six  of  them  regarded  by  the  Church  of  Koine  as  general),  and  by  seven- 
teen popes  (AJvcrmis  Usurant,  pp.  11 2,  llo). 


256  RATIONALISM   IX    EUROPE. 

ormation,  which  was  in  a  great  measure  effected  by  the  trading 
classes,  speedily  dispelled  the  illusions  on  the  subject,  although 
the  opinions  of  the  Reformers  were  at  first  somewhat  divided. 
Melanrhthon,  Brentius,  and  (perhaps)  Bucer  adopted  the  old 
Catholic  view;1  but  Calvin  maintained  that  usury  was  only 
wrong  when  it  was  exacted  in  an  oppressive  manner  from 
the  poor,2  and,  with  admirable  good  sense,  he  refused  tc 
listen  to  those  who  exhorted  him  to  check  it  by  law.  In 
England  money-lending  was  first  formally  permitted  under 
Henry  VIII.8  Somewhat  later  Grotius  discussed  it  in  a  lib- 
eral though  rather  hesitating  tone,  maintaining  strongly  that 
it  was  at  least  not  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature.4  TAVO  or 
three  other  Protestant  writers,  who  are  now  almost  forgot- 
ten, appear  to  have  gone  still  further;  but  the  author  to 
whom  the  first  unequivocal  assertion  of  the  modern  doctrine 
of  interest  is  due  seems  to  be  Saumaise,5  who,  between  1G-3S 
and  1G40,  published  three  books  in  its  defence.  His  view 
was  speedily  but  almost  silently  adopted  by  most  Protest- 
ants, and  the  change  produced  no  difficulty  or  hostility  to 
Christianity. 

Among  the  Catholics,  on  the  other  hand,  the  difficulty  of 
discarding  the  past  Avas  very  considerable.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixteenth  century  the  modern  distinction  between 

1  Sec  the  passages  iu  Concilia,  Usura  tr'mi  Co/>tractus,  pp.  230,  251. 

2  Concilia,   Advcrsus    L'xura/it,   p.    2.     This   view   was    also   adopted   by 
Molinneus  :    '  Carolus  Molinaeus  contendit  aeerrime  usurani,  nisi  fraus  adsit 
aut  debitor  nimium  oppriinatur,  licitaru  es.-e.     Doetores  omnes  a  sexcentis 
annis  contrarium  docuerunt'  (Lcotardus,  DC  Uxurls,  p.  15).     Calvin  was  one 
of  the  very  iirst  \vlio  exposed  the  folly  of  the  old  notion  about  the  sterility 
of  money  :   see  a  remarkable  pas.-age  in  one  of  his  letters  quoted  by  M'Cul- 
loeh,  l'<il.  EI:<JH.,  pt.  iii.  eh.  viii. 

3  Anderson,  Ilixl,  of  G,,/,//«/VY,  vol.  i.  p.  aOt. 

4  Lc  Jure  JkUl  ft  I'unx,  lib.  ii.  cap.  12. 

5  Better  known  us  S'ulmu-ius,  the  author  of  the  Dcfei^lo  llfy'ix  to  whieli 
Milton  replied. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF    KATIOS  ALISM.  2o  i 

usury  and  interest  had  been  introduced  among  laymen,  to 
the  great  indignation  of  theologians,1  in  order  to  evade  the 
censure  of  the  canonical  law.  The  casuistry  of  the  Jesuits 
was  soon  applied  to  the  subject,  and  two  or  three  circuitous 
ways  of  obtaining  interest  became  popular,  which  gave  rise 
to  long  and  virulent  controversies.2  Early  in  the  eighteenth 
century  three  professors  of  the  University  of  Ingolstadt, 
named  Pichlcr,  Tanner,  and  Hannold,  took  a  further  step, 
and  contended  that  some  forms  of  undoubted  usury  might  be 
safely  practised  if  the  civil  law  permitted  them  ;  *  and  in  1743 
a  writer  named  Broedersen  wrote  a  book  which  seems  to 
have  embodied  and  combined  nearly  all  the  leading  senti- 
ments of  the  different  schools  of  laxer  theologians.  The  sub- 
ject had  by  this  time  excited  so  much  agitation  that  Bene- 

1  Lc  Fevre,  who  was  tutor  to  Louis  XIII.,  mentions  that  in  his  time  the 
term  interest  had  been  substituted  for  usury,  and  he  added :  '  C'est  la  pro- 
prement  ce  qu'on  pcut  appeler  Part  de  chicaner  avec  Dieu.'  Marot  also,  who 
wrote  in  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  made  this  change  the  object 
of  a  sarcasm  : — 

'  On  nc  prete  plus  a  1'usure, 
Mais  tant  qu'on  vent  a  Hute'ret.' 

(See  Conferences  sur  V  Usure,  iom.  i.  p.  25.) 

According  to  Concilia,  the  first,  or  nearly  the  first  (fere  primus),  Catholic 
theologian  who  cavilled  at  the  old  definitions  of  usury  v.-as  Lc  Coreur,  who 
wrote  a  treatise  in  1CS2,  in  which  he  maintained  that  moderate  interest  might 
be  exacted  on  commercial  loans,  but  not  on  those  which  had  their  origin  iu 
the  necessities  of  poverty  (Advtrsits  Utiuram,  p.  3).  The  Catholic  writers  at 
this  period  nearly  always  spoke  of  the  modern  doctrine  as  a  Protestant 
heresy — the  heresy  of  Calvin,  Slolinaeus,  and  Salinasius. 

"  One  of  these  was  elaborate!  v  discussed  bv  Concilia  in  a  treatise  called 
Df  Usura  trini  Contractus  (I\om;e,  IT-IS).  Others,  which  arose  especially  in 
the  commercial  communities  of  Belgium,  are  noticed  in  Lamct  and  Fronm- 
gi'uu,  and  also  by  Troplor.ir. 

8  1'ichler  was  a  Jesuit,  and  his  views  on  usury — a  pciTrct  cloud  of  sub- 
tK'ties — are  contained  in  his  Jn*  (_'<tii»itici//ii  (Yciictiis,  ITo'.i).  lib.  iii.  tit.  1'.). 
Tanner  was  also  a  Jesuit.  Of  Hannold  I  know  nothing  except  from  tl:e 
brief  notice  of  his  opinions  in  Concilia,  DC  Usura  trini  (jtjiitri'ctii*,  pp 
152-]55. 


258  RATIONALISM   IX   EUEOPE. 

diet  XIY.  deemed  it  necessary  to  interpose.  He  accordingly, 
as  the  head  of  the  Catholic  Church,  issued  an  encyclical  letter, 
in  which  he  acknowledged  that  there  were  occasions  when  a 
lender,  on  special  grounds,  might  claim  a  sum  additional  to 
what  he  had  lent,  but  refused  to  pronounce  in  detail  on  the 
merits  of  the  controversies  that  had  been  raised  concerning 
particular  kinds  of  loans,  and  contented  himself  with  laying 
down  authoritatively  the  doctrine  of  the  Church.  That 
doctrine  was  that  usury  is  always  a  sin  ;  that  it  consists  of 
any  sum  that  is  exacted  beyond  what  had  been  lent,  solely 
on  account  of  the  loan ;  *  and  that  the  fact  of  this  interest 
being  moderate,  or  being  exacted  only  from  a  rich  man,  or  in 
order  to  further  a  commercial  undertaking,  in  no  degree 
alters  its  character.'  This  appears  to  have  been  the  last 
official  utterance  of  the  Church  upon  the  subject,  and  al- 
though isolated  theologians  for  some  time  attempted  to  stem 
the  tide,  their  voices  soon  died  away  before  the  advancing 
spirit  of  Rationalism.  Year  by  year  what  the  old  theolo- 
gians had  termed  usury  became  more  general.  The  creation 
of  national  debts  made  it  the  very  pillar  of  the  political 
system.  Every  great  enterprise  that  was  undertaken  re- 
ceived its  impulse  from  it,  and  the  immense  majority  of  the 
wealthy  were  concerned  in  it.  Yet  though  it  had  long  been 

1  'Pcccati  gcmis  illud  'mod  usura  vocatnr,  quodque  in  contractu  mutui 

propriain  suam  sudim  et  locum  habct,  in  co  e.st  repotitum  quod  quis  ex  ipso- 
niL't  mutuo,  quod  suapto  natura  tantundem  duntaxat  rcddi  postulat  quantum 
re '.'Op  Una  est,  plus  sibi  reddi  vdit  quam  cit  reccptuiiv — J:.ji!fitula  Lined, 
XIV.,  in  Concina,  A<hcr*u&  Uswatii,  p.  14. 

•  '.Xrque  vcro  ad  istam  htbem  purgandam  ulluia  iH'ce.-sm  snbsidiuna 
potcrit,  vd  ex  co  quod  id  lucrum  non  cxccdens  et  nimium  scd  moderatum, 
non  magnum  s<-d  e.xiinium  sit  ;  vel  ex  eo  quod  is  a  quo  id  lucnna  colius  eniisi 
mutui  dcpo.scitur  nun  jiaupcr  scd  dives  uxistat  ;  noc  dataiu  sibi  mutuo  sum 
iiij'.m  ivlirturus  I'tidsam.  scil  ad  fortunas  suas  amplificaudas  vel  novis  coemen- 
Jig  pra-  liis  vcl  <;  ui?>tiio.-is  agitamlis  ncgotiis,  utilissimc  sit  impensunis.'— 
Ibid. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  259 

branded  as  a  mortal  sin,  and  though  mortal  sin  implied 
eternal  separation  from  the  Deity  and  the  endurance  of  eter- 
nal and  excruciating  sufferings,  the  voice  of  the  Church  was 
silent.  The  decrees  of  the  Councils  remained  indeed  un- 
changed; the  passages  from  Scripture  and  from  the  Fathers 
that  had  so  long  been  triumphantly  adduced  continued 
precisely  the  same  ;  but  the  old  superstition  faded  steadily 
and  almost  silently  away,  till  every  vestige  of  it  had  dis- 
appeared. Laws,  indeed,  against  usury  still  continued  upon 
the  statute  book,  but  they  were  intended  not  to  prohibit 
interest,  but  only  to  regulate  its  rate ;  and  as  the  principles 
of  political  economy  were  elucidated,  this  too  began  to  pass 
away.  At  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Locke  pro- 
tested strongly  against  the  attempt  to  reduce  intei-est  by 
law  ; '  but  the  full  investigation  of  the  subject  was  reserved 
for  the  folloAving  century.  It  was  remarked  that  Catharine 
of  Russia  having  endeavoured  to  lower  the  general  rate  of 
interest  from  six  to  five  per  cent.,  her  enactment  had  the 
effect  of  raising  it  to  seven;  and  that  Louis  XV.,  in  the  same 
manner,  raised  it  from  five  to  six  when  intending  to  reduce 
it  to  four.5  In  England  both  Adam  Smith  and  Hume  threw 
a  flood  of  light  upon  the  subject,  though  neither  of  them 
fully  perceived  the  evil  of  the  laws,  which  the  first,  indeed, 

1  See  Iiis  Considerations  on  the  Loiccriny  of  Interest,  published  in  1('>P1 — 
a  tract  which  is,  unfortunately,  deeply  tinged  with  the  errors  of  the  mercan 
tile  th?ory,  but  is  full  of  shrewd  guesses  on  the  laws  of  money.  Locke  per- 
ceived that  interest  depended  upon  supply  and  demand,  and  that  all  attempts 
tr>  reduce  it  below  the  natural  level  were  pernicious  or  abortive.  He  thou-ht, 
iiowever,  that  the  maximum  should  bo  fixed  by  law  to  prevent  imposition, 
bat  that  that  maximum  should  be  fixed  above  the  natural  rate.  At  a  still 
earlier  period  Harrington  saw  the  necessity  of  usury,  but  involved  himself  iu 
preat  obscurity,  and  almost  absurdity,  when  discussing  it :  see  his/'/vrfw/a 
tnr  of  Pujiitlar  Gt>vmtni<iif,  e.  :>. 

a  Storch,  £<•<'»! c» />ic  /V/V/</'"\  tout.  iii.  p.  1^7. 


360  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE, 

expressly  applauded.1  In  France,  nine  years  before  the 
'Wealth  of  Nations,'  Turgot  had  disclosed  most  of  thosa 
evils  ;  and  he  appears  to  have  clearly  seen  that  interest  is  not 
capricious,  but  bears  a  fixed  relation  to  the  general  condition 
of  society.11  At  last  Bentham,  in  his  famous  'Letters  on 
Usury,'  gave  what  will  probably  prove  a  deathblow  to  & 
legislative  folly  that  has  been  in  existence  for  3,000  years. 
It  has  been  observed  by  a  Russian  political  economist  that 
the  Starovcrtsis,  and  some  other  dissenters  from  the  Russian 
Church,  still  maintain  that  it  is  sinful  to  lend  money  at 
interest3 — perhaps  the  last  representatives  of  what  was  for 
many  centuries  the  unanimous  teaching  of  the  Christian 
Church. 

The  importance  of  this  episode  depends  not  so  much  on 
the  question  that  was  immediately  at  issue — though  that 
question,  as  we  have  seen,  was  far  from  being  insignificant — 

1  Adam  Smith  wished  the  legal  interest  to  be  fixed  a  very  little  above 
the  current  rate  of  interest,  as  a  check  upon  prodigality  and  rash  specula- 
tion.    This  is  still  done  in  many  countries,  but  Bentham  showed  decisively 
(Letter  xiii.,  On  Usury)  that  such  a  law  is  extremely  detrimental  to  industrial 
progress,  as  each  new  enterprise  is  almost  necessarily  more  hazardous  thau 
old-established  ones,  and  therefore  capitalists  will  only  direct  their  capital  to 
the  former  if  the  interest  to  be  obtained  from  them  is  considerably  higher 
than  could  be  obtained  from  the  latter.     To  which  it  may  be  added  that  any 
attempt  to  dictate  by  law  the  terms  on  which  a  man  may  lend  his  money  is 
an   infringement  of  the  rights  of  property,  and  that  the  borrower  is  much 
more  likely  to  know  at  what  rate  he  may  profitably  borrow  than  the  legis- 
lator. 

2  Besides   the  Miiitoire,  Turgot  noticed  the  subject  in  a  very  striking 
manner  in  his  Jifflcxions  sur  la  Formation  dcs  JRicJu-sses.     Like  nearly  every 
one  in  liis  time,  he  fell  into  the  error  of  believing  that  the  abundance  of  the 
precious  metals  told  upon  the  rate  of  interest ;  but  this  did  not  affect  his 
main  argument,  and  on   the  whole  there  is  not  much  in  Bentham  that  was 
not  anticipated  by  Turgot.     In  Italy  Genovcsi,  who  was  a  contemporary  of 
Turgot,  advocated  the  abolition  of  usury  laws.    (I'ecehio,  fitoria  ddla  E'cono 
mia  Pnf>fjl!ca  i»  Itn/i/i,  p.  ]]•!.) 

1  Storeli,  K<-on<jiiiic  J'o/iticjuc,  torn.  iii.  p.  175. 


THE   ESTDUSTKIAL   HISTORY   OF    RATIONALISM.  20 J 

as  upon  its  influence  in  breaking  the  authority  of  the  Church. 
A  second  way  in  which  the  rise  of  the  industrial  classes  that 
followed  the  Crusades  tended  towards  the  same  object  was 
by  uniting  nations  of  different  religions  in  commercial  rela- 
tions. Before  this  time  the  intervention  of  the  Pope  had 
been  the  most  effectual  agent  in  regulating  national  differ- 
ences, and  General  Councils  formed  the  highest,  and  indeed 
almost  the  solitary,  expression  of  a  European  federation. 
The  benign  influence  of  Catholicism  was  continually  exer- 
cised in  correcting  the  egotism  of  a  restricted  patriotism; 
and  although  this  benefit  was  purchased  by  the  creation  of 
an  intense  animosity  towards  those  who  were  without,  and 
also  by  an  excessive  predominance  of  ecclesiastical  influ- 
ence, it  would  be  unfair  to  forget  its  inestimable  value.  After 
the  Crusades,  however,  a  new  bond  of  cohesion  was  called 
jnto  existence,  and  nations  were  grouped  upon  a  new  princi 
pie.  The  appointment  of  consuls  in  the  Syrian  towns,  to  su- 
perintend the  commercial  interests  of  the  Western  nations, 
gave  the  first  great  impulse  to  international  diplomacy  ' — an 
influence  which  for  many  centuries  occupied  an  extremely 


1  I  use  tlii.-?  expression  because  that  obscure  subject  which  Papebrochiua 
and  Mabillon  have  investigated,  and  which  they  have  called  Diplomacy,  is 
much  more  what  we  should  now  term  the  Ilistory  of  Charters.  The  rise  and 
influence  of  consulships  has  been  traced  in  English  by  Warden,  in  French 
t>y  Corel,  and  in  Latin  by  Steek.  The  subject  has  been  also  well  noticed  by 
Van  Bruvsscl,  I  list,  du  Commerce  />V/vr,  torn.  i.  p.  1  10  ;  and  the  influence  of 
diplomacy  ;:s  superseding  General  Councils,  bv  I.ittre,  lii'vo^ufioii,  Cwiarrva 
(ion  ct  Ponilivixiine,  one  of  the  ablest  books  the  Positive  School  has  ever  pro- 
duced. The  distinction  between  the  old  and  new  sense  of  diplomacy  is  ex- 
pressed respectively  in  the  words 'la  diplomatique' and 'la  diplomatic,' the 
!ust  of  which  is  less  than  a  century  old.  (See  De  Hassan,  ///.-,•/.  <!,.  f<t  I>'>/>1>- 
iini/ii'  Fr<iin;<t'i!« ,  Introd.)  1  may  add  that  one  of  the  first  systems  of  navi- 
gation law  depended  upon  an  in~titulion  railed  the  'Consulship  of  the  Sea,' 
which  consisted  of  a  tribunal  of  leading  merchants  authorised  to  determine 
disputes. 


262  RATIONALISM   EST   EUEOPE. 

impoi  tant  place  in  civilisation,  but  appears  now  to  be  steadi- 
ly waning  before  the  doctrine  of  the  rights  of  nationalities 

*/  O  ~ 

and  before  the  increasing  publicity  of  politics.  The  social 
and  intellectual  consequences  of  commercial  intercourse  were 
still  greater.  For  while  an  intense  sectarian  spirit  is  com- 
patible with  the  most  transcendent  abilities  and  with  the 
most  profound  learning,  provided  those  abilities  and  that 
learning  are  directed  in  a  single  channel,  it  can  very  rarely 
survive  close  contact  with  members  of  different  creeds. 
When  men  have  once  realised  the  truth  that  no  single 
sect  possesses  a  monopoly  either  of  virtue  or  of  abilities — • 
when  they  have  watched  the  supporters  of  the  most  various 
opinions  dogmatising  with  the  same  profound  conviction, 
defending  their  belief  with  the  same  energy,  and  irradiating 
it  with  the  same  spotless  purity — when  they  have  learnt  in 
some  degree  to  assume  the  standing-point  of  different  sects,, 
to  perceive  the  aspect  from  which  what  they  had  once  deem- 
ed incongruous  and  absurd  seems  harmonious  and  coherent, 
and  to  observe  how  all  the  features  of  the  intellectual  land- 
scape take  their  colour  from  the  prejudice  of  education,  and 
shift  and  vary  according  to  the  point  of  view  from  which 
they  are  regarded — when,  above  all,  they  have  begun  to  re- 
vere and  love  for  their  moral  qualities  those  from  whom 
they  are  separated  by  their  creed,  their  sense  both  of  the 
certainty  and  the  importance  of  their  distinctive  tenets  will 
iiMially  be  impaired,  and  their  intolerance  towards  others  pro- 
portionately diminished.  The  spectacle  of  the  contradictions 
around  them,  of  the  manifest  attraction  which  different  class- 
es of  opinions  possess  to  different  minds,  will  make  them  sus- 
pect that  their  own  opinions  may  possibly  be  false,  and  even 
that  no  one  system  of  belief  can  be  adapted  to  the  require- 
ments of  all  men;  while,  at  the  same  time,  their  growing 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    KATIOXALISM.  2G3 

sense  of  the  moral  excellence  that  may  be  associated  with 
the  most  superstitious  creed  will  withdraw  their  minds  from 
dogmatic  considerations.  For  human  nature  is  so  consti- 
tuted, that,  although  men  may  persuade  themselves  intellec- 
tually that  error  is  a  damnable  crime,  the  voice  of  conscience 
protests  so  strongly  against  this  doctrine,  that  it  can  only  be 
silenced  by  the  persuasion  that  the  personal  character  of  the 
heretic  is  as  repulsive  as  his  creed.  Calumny  is  the  homage 
which  dogmatism  has  ever  paid  to  conscience.  Even  in  the 
periods  when  the  guilt  of  heresy  was  universally  believed, 
the  spirit  of  intolerance  was  only  sustained  by  the  diffusion 
of  countless  libels  against  the  misbeliever,  and  by  the  sys- 
tematic concealment  of  his  virtues.  How  sedulously  theolo- 
gians at  that  time  laboured  in  this  task,  how  unscrupulously 
they  maligned  and  blackened  every  leading  opponent  of 
their  views,  how  eagerly  they  fanned  the  flame  of  sectarian 
animosity,  how  uniformly  they  prohibited  those  whom  they 
could  influence  from  studying  the  writings  or  frequenting 
the  society  of  men  of  different  opinions  from  their  own.  is 
well  known  to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory. The  tir>t  great  blow  to  this  policy  was  given  by  the 
rise  of  the  commercial  classes  that  followed  the  Crusades. 
Orthodox  Catholics  came  into  close  and  amicable  connection 
both  with  Greeks  and  with  Mohammedans,  Avliile  their  new 
pin-suit  made  them,  for  the  first  time,  look  Avith  favour  upon 
the  Jews.  It  was  these  last  who  in  the  middle  :i<_res  were  the 
Fpecial  objects  of  persecution,  ai;d  it  was  also  towards  them 
that  the  tolerant  character  of  commerce  was  first  inanite-ted. 
The  persecution  of  the  Jewish  race  dates  from  the  very 
earliest  period  in  which  Christianity  obtained  the  direction 
of  the  civil  power;1  and.  although  it  varied  greatly  in  its 

1  As  their  latest  historian  *ays  •  1>  ChrisuanUmo   ;u-  prit   uno  vOiitable 


264.  RATIONALISM    IN    EUROPE. 

character  and  its  intensity,  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to  hare 
definitively  ceased  till  the  French  Revolution.  Alexander 
II.,  indeed,  and  three  or  four  other  Popes,1  made  noble  efforta 
to  arrest  it,  and  more  than  once  interposed  with  great  cour- 
age, as  Avell  as  great  humanity,  to  censure  the  massacres; 
but  the  priests  were  usually  unwearied  in  inciting  the  pas- 
sions of  the  people,  and  hatred  of  the  Jew  was  for  many  cen- 
turies a  faithful  index  of  the  piety  of  the  Christians.  Mas- 
sacred by  thousands  during  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Crusades 
and  of  the  War  of  the  Shepherds,  the  Jews  found  every  ec- 
clesiastical revival,  and  the  accession  of  every  sovereign  of 
more  than  usual  devotion,  occasions  for  fresh  legislative  re- 
strictions. Theodosius,  St.  Lewis,  and  Isabella  the  Catholic — 
who  were  probably  the  three  most  devout  sovereigns  before 
the  Reformation — the  Council  of  the  Lateran,  which  led  the 
religious  revival  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Paul  IV.,  who 
led  that  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  above  all  the  religious 
orders,  were  among  their  most  ardent  persecutors.  Every- 
thing was  done  to  separate  them  from  their  fellow-men,  to 
mark  them  out  as  the  objects  of  undying  hatred,  and  to  stifle 
all  compassion  for  their  sufferings.  They  were  compelled  to 
wear  a  peculiar  dress,  and  to  live  in  a  separate  quarter.  A 
Christian  might  not  enter  into  any  partnership  with  them ; 

consistancc  quo  sous  la  regne  de  Constantm  :  et  c'est  ;\  dater  dc  cotte  cpoque 
quo  commence,  a  propremcnt  parlor,  pour  les  Juifs  I'erc  ilos  persecutions  re- 
ligieuses.'  (Bedarride,  Hint,  dcs  Juifs,  p.  1(5.)  In  this,  however,  as  in  other 
persecutions,  the  Arians  were  quite  as  bad  as  the  orthodox.  Constantius 
persecuted  :it  least  a?  much  as  Constantino,  and  the  Spanish  Visigoths  more 
than  either. 

1  On  the  liberality  of  several  Topes  to  the  Jews,  see  Bedarride,  p.  2f>0, 
on  Alexander  II.,  pp.  114-1:2';.  St.  Bernard  also  laboured  to  assuage  the 
persecution.  Alexander  VI.  was  especially  generous  to  the  Jews,  and  made 
threat  efforts  to  alleviate  their  sufferings — a  fact  that  should  be  remembered 
in  favour  of  a  Pope  for  whom  there  is  not  much  else  to  be  said 


THE   INDUSTRIAL   HISTOEY    OF   RATIONALISM.  265 

he  might  not  eat  with  them;  he  might  not  use  the  same 
bath  ;  he  might  not  employ  them  as  physicians ;  he  might 
not  even  purchase  their  drugs.1  Intermarriage  with  them 
was  deemed  a  horrible  pollution,  and  in  the  time  of  St.  Lewis 
any  Christian  who  had  chosen  a  Jewess  for  his  mistress  was 
burnt  alive.2  Even  in  their  executions  they  were  separated 
from  other  criminals,  and,  till  the  fourteenth  century,  they 
were  hung  between  two  clogs,  and  with  the  head  down- 
wards.* According  to  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  all  they  possess- 
ed, being  derived  from  the  practice  of  usury,  might  be  justly 

1  For  a  long  list  of  these  prohibitions  sec  a  curious  book,  DC  Juda-is 
(Turin,  1717),  by  Joseph  Scssa  (one  of  the  judges  appointed  in  Piedmont  to 
regulate  the  affairs  of  the  Jews),  p.  10.  As  early  as  the  reign  of  Constan- 
tino a  Council  of  Elvira  forbade  Christians  holding  any  communication  with 
Jews.  The  Council  of  the  Lateran  compelled  Jews  to  wear  a  separate  dress  ; 
and  this  very  simple  provision,  by  bringing  them  prominently  before  the 
people  in  an  intensely  fanatical  age,  contributed  greatly  to  rouse  the  passions 
of  the  Catholics,  and  to  facilitate  the  massacres  that  ensued  (see  Kios, 
Etudes  sur  Ics  Jv'/fs  d'Espagne  [trad.  Maynabel],  p.  109).  St.  Vincent 
Ferrier  persuaded  the  Spanish  Government  to  enforce  this  decree  against  botli 
Jews  and  Moors.  (Paramo,  I)c  Or  iff.  Inq.  p.  104.) 

•  CEuvres  de  St.  Foiz,  torn.  iv.  pp.  88,  89.  A  similar  enactment  was  made 
in  Spain  (Iliorf,  pp.  88,  89).  It  was  also  a  popular  belief  that  the  blood  of 
Jews  was  black  and  putrid,  and  the  bad  smell  for  which  they  were  unhappily 
notorious  innate.  There  is  a  long  discussion  on  this  in  Scssa.  But  perhaps 
the  most  curious  instance  of  this  order  of  superstitions  is  a  statute  of  Queen 
Joanna  I.,  in  1C47,  regulating  the  houses  of  ill-fame  at  Avignon,  in  which, 
after  providing  with  great  detail  for  the  accommodation  of  the  Christians,  it 
is  enacted  that  no  Jew  shall  be  admitted  under  severe  penalties  (Sabatier, 
Hint,  de  la  Legislation  *«/•  li's  l-\rnnirx  IWiliqitcn,  p.  100).  The  authenticity 
of  this  statute  has  been  questioned,  but  M.  Sabatier  seems  to  have  succeeded 
in  defending  it,  and  he  has  shown  that  in  1-10S  a  Jew  was  actually  flogged  at 
ivignon  for  the  on'encc  in  question  (pp.  10.1,  10t'>).  This  extreme  horror  of 
Jews  furnished  Ulrich  von  Hut  ten  with  the  subject  of  one  of  the  happiest 
pieces  of  irony  he  ever  wrote1— the  exquisite  description  of  the  mental  agonies 
of  a  student  of  Frankfort,  who,  mistaking  a  Jew  for  a  magistrate  of  the  city, 
took  off  his  hat  to  him,  and  on  discovering  his  error  was  unable  to  decide 
whether  lie  had  committed  a  mortal  or  only  a  venial  sin.  (Eplxl'il.  Obscur\> 
r-ji/t  VirTum,  ep.  2.) 

3  Michelet,  Orlrjlnf-s  de  Dro'it.  p.  SOS 
2',) 


266  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE.       . 

confiscated,1  and  if  they  were  ever  permitted  to  pursue  that 
practice  unmolested,  it  was  only  because  they  were  already 
BO  hopelessly  damned,  that  no  crime  could  aggravate  theii 
condition.3 

Insulted,  plundered,  hated,  and  despised  by  all  Christian 
nations,  banished  from  England  by  Edward  L,  and  from 
France  by  Charles  VI.,  they  found  in  the  Spanish  Moors 
rulers  who,  in  addition  to  that  measuie  of  tolerance  which  is 

1  The  Duchess  of  Brabant,  having  some  scruples  of  conscience  about 
tolerating  the  Jews,  submitted  the  ease  to  St.  Thomas.     He  replied,  among 
other  things,  that  the  Jews  were  doomed  to  perpetual  servitude,  and  that  all 
their  property  being  derived  from  usury  may  be  lawfully  taken  from  them,  to 
be  restored  to  those  who  paid  the  usury,  or,  if  this  is  impossible,  to  be  ap- 
plied to  some  pious  purpose.     (See  this  curious  letter,  given  at  length  in  Vim 
Bruyssel,  Hint,  du   Commerce  Sc'yc,  torn.  i.  pp.  239,  240.)     On  the  general 
doctrine  that  property  derived  from  usury  may  be  confiscated  by  the  civil 
power,  see  Paramo,  De  Orig.  Inquisit.  p.  1C "7. 

2  There  was  a  good  deal  of  controversy  in  the  middle  ages  about  whether 
the  Jews  should  be  permitted  to  practise  usury.     The  liberty  seems  to  have 
been  first  openly  granted  in  the  commercial  towns  of  Italy,  but  it  gradually 
spread,  and  was  admitted  by  some  Popes.     Sessa  gives  the  reasons  that  were 
avowed  by  theologians :  '  Usuras  Judaicae  tolerantur  quidem  ex  permissione  Prin- 
cipurn  et  summorum  Pontificum  in  Ilebrteis  ut  de  gente  dcperdita.  et  quorum 
salus  est  desperata,  et  ad  cum  finem  nc  Christian!  fcenoris  exercitio  strangu- 
lentur  a  Christianis '  (Be  JuJais.  p.  0).     The  permission  was  granted  in  Pied- 
mont in  1C03.     St.  Lewis  refused  to  permit  the  Jews  to  exercise  usury  (Trop- 
long),  and  the  Spanish  rulers  seem  to  have  vacillated  on  the  subject  (Bedar- 
ride,  pp.  1P2-104).     There  can  be  no  doubt  the  monopoly  of  usury  which 
the  Jews  possessed  did  more  to  enrich  than  all  their  persecutions  to  impov- 
erish them.     For  although,   as  Adam  Smith  observes,  the  current  rate  of 
interest  should  represent  approximately  the  average  of  profits,  this  is  onlr 
Then  it  is  free,  and  the  exertions  of  divines  and  legislators  in  the  middle 
nces  had  raised  it  far  above  the  high  rate  it  would  then  naturally  have  bunt;-. 
It  seems  to  have  usually  ranged  between  25  and  40  percent.     In  li:]0  v-\: 
find  the  Florentine?,  in  order  to   reduce  the  current   rate,  ndmittinsr  the  Jews 
into  their  city,  whence  they  had  previously  been  excluded,  on  the  condition 
of  their  lending  money  as  low  as   20  per  cent.  (Cibrario,  vol.  iii.  p.  T!],s).     It 
is  curious  to  observe  how,  while  persecution  prevented  the  Jews  from  evei 
amalgamating  *  ith  other  nations,  the  system  of  usury  prevented  the: P.  Ironi 
ev^r  perishing  or  sinking  into  insignificance. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM. 

always  produced  by  a  high  intellectual  culture,  were  prob- 
ably not  without  a  special  sympathy  for  a  race  whose  pure 
monotheism  formed  a  marked  contrast  to  the  scarcely  dis- 
guised polytheism  of  the  Spanish  Catholics ;  and  Jewish 
learning  and  Jewish  genius  contributed  very  largely  to  that 
bright  but  transient  civilisation  which  radiated  from  Toledo 
and  Cordova,  and  exercised  so  salutary  an  influence  upon  the 
belief  of  Europe.  But  when,  in  an  ill-omened  hour,  the  Cross 
supplanted  the  Crescent  on  the  heights  of  the  Alharnbra,  this 
solitary  refuge  was  destroyed,  the  last  gleam  of  tolerance 
vanished  from  Spain,  and.  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  was 
determined. 

This  edict  was  immediately  due  to  the  exertions  of  Tor- 
quemada,  who,  if  he  did  not  suggest  it,  at  least  by  a  singular 
act  of  audacity  overcame  the  irresolution  of  the  Queen ; '  but 
its  ultimate  cause  is  to  be  found  in  that  steadily  increasing 
popular  fanaticism  which  made  it  impossible  for  the  two  races 
to  exist  together.  In  1390,  about  a  hundred  years  before  the 
conquest  of  Granada,  the  Catholics  of  Seville,  being  excited 
by  the  eloquence  of  a  great  preacher,  named  Ilernando  Mar- 
tinez, had  attacked  the  Jews'  quarter,  and  murdered  4,000 
Jews,2  Martinez  himself  presiding  over  the  massacre.  About 
a  year  later,  and  partly  through  the  influence  of  the  same 
eminent  divine,  similar  scenes  took  place  at  Valentia,  Cordo- 
va, Burgos,  Toledo,  and  Barcelona.3  St.  Vincent  Ferricr. 

1  The  Jews  offered  30,000  ducats  to  remain.  The  Queen,  it  is  said,  for  a 
time  hesitated,  but  Torquemada,  confronting  her  on  the  threshold  of  the 
palace  with  a  crucifix  in  his  hand,  exclaimed,  'Judas  sold  his  God  for  thirty 
pieces  of  silver — yon  are  about  to  sell  him  for  thirty  thousand' (Bedanide 
anil  1'resoott),  The  anecdote  is  related  by  Paramo,  p.  1-11,  only  he  does  not 
specify  the  sum. 

3  llios,  Etwhs  fur  Ics  Ji.tify  d'J-^paf/i^,  p.  77.  Kios,  says  that  the  eon 
temporary  writers  are  unanimous  about  the  number. 

*  ll'.'L  pp.  70-8:2,     Llorente,  Hitt.d?  T Lirp.m'dion,  torn.  i.  p.  141. 


268  KATTONALIfeM    IN    EUEOPE. 

who  was  then  stirring  all  Spain  with  his  preaching,  devoted 
himself  especially  to  the  Jews ;  and  as  the  people  zealously 
seconded  the  reasoning  of  the  saint  by  massacring  those 
who  hesitated,  many  thousands  were  converted,1  and  if  they 
relapsed  into  Judaism  were  imprisoned  or  burned.  Scenes 
of  this  kind  took  place  more  than  once  during  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  they  naturally  intensified  the  traditional  hatred, 
which  was  still  further  aggravated  by  the  fact  that  most  of 
the  tax-gatherers  were  Jews.  At  last  the  Moorish  war, 
which  had  always  been  regarded  as  a  crusade,  was  drawing 
to  a  close,  the  religious  fervour  of  the  Spanish  rose  to  the 
highest  point,  and  the  Inquisition  was  established  as  its  ex- 
pression. Xumbers  of  converted  Jews  were  massacred ; 
others,  who  had  been  baptised  during  past  explosions  of 
popular  fury,  fled  to  the  Moors,  in  order  to  practise  their 
rites,  arid  at  last,  after  a  desperate  resistance,  were  captured 
and  burnt  alive.'  The  clergy  exerted  all  their  energies  to 

1  Rios  gives  a  delightful  Spanish  complexion  to  all  this :  '  L'apparition 
de  Saint  Vincent  Fcrrier  devant  le  peuple  Juif  avait  etc-  un  fait  veritublement 
prodigieux.     11  avait  apparu  a  leurs  yens  commc  un  auge  sauvenr,  et  cetto 
circonstance  ne  pouvait  qu'etre  favorable  a  sa  haute  mission  evangelique.    Le 
8  juin  1391,  les  rues  de  Valence  se  rcmplissaient  du  sang  des  Juifs,  les  bou- 
tiques ctaiont  brulecs,  les  maisons  dc  la  Juivcrie  saecagees  par  une  multitude 
effrem'c,  le?  malheureux  Juifs  cournient  aux  egliscs  demandant  le  bapteine,  et 
ils  etai.-nt  repousses  dc  toutes   parts  et  nc  rencontraient  que  la  mort,  quand 
au  milieu  de  la  populace  St.  Vincent  Ferricr  so  prescnte  et  elevant  sa  voix 
inspireo,  il  met  un  tcrme  a  c'ettc  horrible  carnage.     La  multitude  se  tait. 
I,es  Juif s  appeles  par  cc  nouvcau  apotre,  qui  se  donna  plus  tard  a  lui-meme  !e 
uoin   d'antre  de  I'.Vpocalypse,  eeoutent  la  parole  divine  et  se  eonvcrtissent. 

Tout  eel  a  contribua  puissamment  au  merveilleux  resultats  dc  P:I  pre- 
I'uation'  (pp.  SO,  00).  St.  Vincent  was  a  Dominican,  a  very  great  preacher, 
arid  eo  very  good  that  he  always  undressed  in  tho  dark  lest  he  should  see 
himself  naked.  For  his  miracles,  his  virtues,  and  the  multitudes  he  converted, 
Bee  his  life  in  .Spanish  by  Vincent  Ju^tiuiuno  (Valentia,  157.".).  Paramo  says 
that  the  Inquisitors  discovered  tl  at  no  less  than  n,<~>nO  of  the  converts  of 
St  Vincent  returned  to  Judui.-m  (l>c  Orif/.  L/'j.  p.  107). 

2  T\ve,TC,  however,  who  were  captured  at  Malaga  during  the  siege  in  1  13c 
were  hnpaled  by  Fercmand. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  269 

produce  the  expulsion  of  the  entire  race,  and  to  effect  this 
object  all  the  old  calumnies  were  revived,  and  two  or  three 
miracles  invented.1 

When  we  take  into  consideration  all  these  circumstances, 
and  the  condition  of  public  feeling  they  evince,  we  can  per 
haps  hardly  blame  Isabella  for  issuing  the  decree  of  banish 
ment  against  the  Jews ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  ac- 
knowledged that  history  relates  very  few  measures  that  pro- 
duced so  vast  an  amount  of  calamity — calamities  so  frightful, 
that  an  old  historian  has  scarcely  exaggerated  them  when  he 
describes  the  sufferings  of  the  Spanish  Jews  as  equal  to  those 
of  their  ancestors  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.'  In 
three  short  months,  all  unconverted  Jews  were  obliged,  un- 
der pain  of  death,  to  abandon  the  Spanish  soil.3  Although 
they  were  permitted  to  dispose  of  their  goods,  they  were  for 
bidden  to  carry  either  gold  or  silver  from  Spain,  and  tlii: 
measure  made  them  almost  helpless  before  the  rapacity  of 
their  persecutors.  Multitudes,  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
pirates  who  swarmed  around  the  coast,  were  plundered  of  all 
they  possessed,  and  reduced  to  slavery;  multitudes  died  of 
famine  or  of  plague,  or  were  murdered  or  tortured  with  hor- 
rible cruelty  by  the  African  savages,  or  were  cast  back  by 
tempests  on  the  Spanish  coast.  Weak  women,  driven  from 
luxurious  homes  among  the  orange  groves  of  Seville  or 
Granada,  children  fresh  from  their  mothers'  arms,  the  aged, 
the  sick,  and  the  infirm,  perished  by  thousands.  About 

'  They  are  detailed  by  Paramo. 

2  Pious  Mirandola. 

3  Jt  seems  impossible  to  ascertain  the  number  of  the  exiles  with  accuracy, 
for  the  Spanish  historians  vary  greatly,  from  Cardoso  who  estimates  it  at 
1 '20,000,  to  Mariana  who  states  it  at  800,000.     Paramo  says  some  place  it  at 
more  than  170,000,  and  others   at  more  than  400,000  (p.  167).     Ju»tiniaiic 
'ays  -120,000.     Gre.it  numbers  of  the  Jews  avoided  banishment  by  baptism. 


270  RATIONALISM   IX    EUKOPE. 

80,000  took  refuge  in  Portugal,  relying  on  the  promise  of  the 
king;  but  even  there  the  hatred  of  the  Spaniards  pursued 
them.  A  mission  was  organised.  Spanish  priests  lashed  the 
Portuguese  into  fury,  and  the  king  was  persuaded  to  issue  an 
edict  which  threw  even  that  of  Isabella  into  the  shade.  AM 
the  adult  Jews  were  banished  from  Portugal ;  but  first  of  all 
their  children  below  the  age  of  fourteen  were  taken  from 
them  to  be  educated  as  Christians.  Then,  indeed,  the  cup  of 
bitterness  was  filled  to  the  brim.  The  serene  fortitude  with 
which  the  exiled  people  had  borne  so  many  and  such  grievous 
calamities  gave  way,  and  was  replaced  by  the  wildest  parox- 
ysms of  despair.  Piercing  shrieks  of  anguish  filled  the  land. 
Women  were  known  to  fling  their  children  into  deep  wells, 
or  to  tear  them  limb  from  limb,  rather  than  resign  them  to 
the  Christians.  When  at  last,  childless  and  broken-hearted, 
they  sought  to  leave  the  land,  they  found  that  the  ships  had 
been  purposely  detained,  and  the  allotted  time  having  ex- 
pired, they  were  reduced  to  slavery,  and  baptised  by  force. 
By  the  merciful  intervention  of  Uome  most  of  them  at  last 
regained  their  liberty,  but  their  children  were  separated  from 
them  forever.  A  great  peal  of  rejoicing  filled  the  Peninsula, 
and  proclaimed  that  the  triumph  of  the  Spanish  priests  was 
complete. ' 

Ccrlainly  the  heroism  of  the  defenders  of  every  other 
creed  fades  into  insignificance  before  this  martyr  people,  who 
for  thirteen  centuries  confronted  all  the  evils  that  the  fiercest 
fanaticism  could  devise,  enduring  obloquy  and  spoliation  and 
the  violation  of  the  dearest  ties,  and  the  infliction  of  the  most 
hideous  sufierings,  rather  than  abandon  their  faith.  For 
these  were  no  ascetic  monks,  dead  to  all  the  hopes  and  pas- 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    IIISTOBY   OF   K  ATlv  >NALISif.  271 

eions  of  life,  but  were  men  who  appreciated  intensely  the 
worldly  advantages  they  relinquished,  and  whose  affections 
Lad  become  all  the  more  lively  on  account  of  the  narrow 
circle  in  which  they  were  confined.  Enthusiasm  and  the 
si  range  phenomena  of  ecstasy,  which  have  exercised  so  large 
an  influence  in  the  history  of  persecution,  which  have  nerved 
so  many  martyrs  with  superhuman  courage,  and  have  dead 
encd  or  destroyed  the  anguish  of  so  many  fearful  tortures, 
were  here  almost  unknown.  Persecution  came  to  the  Jewish 
nation  in  its  most  horrible  forms,  yet  surrounded  by  every 
circumstance  of  petty  annoyance  that  could  destroy  its 
grandeur,  and  it  continued  for  centuries  their  abiding  por- 
tion. But  above  all  this  the  genius  of  that  wonderful  people 
rose  supreme.  While  those  around  them  were  grovelling  in 
the  darkness  of  besotted  ignorance;  while  juggling  miracles 
and  lying  relics  were  the  themes  on  which  almost  all  Europe 
was  expatiating  ;  while  the  intellect  of  Christendom,  en- 
thralled by  countless  superstitions,  had  sunk  into  a  deadly 
torpor,  in  Avhich  all  love  of  enquiry  and  all  search  for  truth 
were  abandoned,  the  Jews  were  still  pursuing  the  path  of 
knowledge,  amassing  learning,  and  stimulating  progress  with 
(he  same  unflinching  constancy  that  they  manifested  in  their 
faith.  They  were  the  most  skilful  physicians,  the  ablest 
financiers,  and  among  the  most  profound  philosophers;  while 
they  were  only  second  to  the  Moors  in  the  cultivation  oi 
natural  science.  They  were  also  the  chief  interpreters  to 
Europe  of  Arabian  leaniinu'.1  But  their  most  iin- 


The  very  extensive  Jewish  literature  (if  the  middle  ages  is  fully  reviewed 
by  Uedarride  and  Ji'ios.  M.mnonitles  is  of  eourse  the  greatest  name.  M. 
Hen,  in,  in  his  essay  on  Avenves,  has  shown  tli.it  nearly  all  the  first  tran-latior.  < 
into  Latin  of  the  works  of  Averrors  weiv  l>y  Jews  (ehieily  by  those  of  Mon:- 
pellier,  who  were  especially  famous  for  tlu-ir  learning),  and  that  Averroisii! 
took  deep  root  in  Jewish  teaching,  ilaimonidcs  wrote  a  letter  ou  the  vault; 


272  BATIOXALISM   US'   EUEOPE. 

portant  service,  and  that  with  which  we  are  now  most  es- 
pecially concerned,  was  in  sustaining  commercial  activity. 
For  centuries  they  were  almost  its  only  representatives.  By 
travelling  from  land  to  land  till  they  had  become  intimately 
acquainted  both  with  the  wants  and  the  productions  of eachj 
by  practising  money-lending  on  a  large  scale  and  with  con- 
summate skill,  by  keeping  up  a  constant  and  secret  corre- 
spondence and  organising  a  system  of  exchange  that  was 
then  unparalleled  in  Europe,1  the  Jews  succeeded  in  making 
themselves  absolutely  indispensable  to  the  Christian  com- 
munity, and  in  accumulating  immense  wealth  and  acquiring 
immense  influence  in  the  midst  of  their  sufferings.  When 
the  Italian  republics  rose  to  power,  they  soon  became  the 
centres  to  which  the  Jews  nocked :  and  under  the  merchant 
governments  of  Leghorn,  Venice,  Pisa,  and  Genoa,  a  degree 
of  toleration  was  accorded  that  was  indeed  far  from  perfect, 
but  was  at  least  immeasurably  greater  than  elsewhere.  The 
Jews  were  protected  from  injury,  and  permitted  to  practise 

of  astrology,  which  two  popes  applauded  (Bedarride,  p.  151).  He  was  also 
distinguished  for  his  liberal  views  about  inspiration  (Lee,  On  Inspiration,  pp. 
451—159).  The  controversial  literature  of  the  Jews  directed  against  Chris- 
tianity was  extremely  voluminous.  A  catalogue  of  these  works,  and  a  de- 
scription of  many  of  them,  is  given  in  a  little  book,  called  BibliotJtcca  Judaica 
Antichristiana,  by  John  Bernard  cle  IJosc-i  (Parma1,  1800). 

1  A  very  old  and  general  tradition  ascribes  the  invention  of  the  letter  of 
exchange  to  Jews  who.  having  been  banished  from  France,  had  taken  refuge 
in  Lombardy.  Xor  does  there  seem  to  be  anything  of  much  weight  to  op- 
pose to  it,  though  some  have  contended  that  the  Italians  were  the  real  invent 
ors.  At  all  events,  the  Jews  appear  to  have  been  among  the  fir.-t  to  emplo) 
it.  The  earliest  notice  of  letters  of  exchange  is  said  to  be  in  a  statute  cJ 
•Avignon  of  li'lo.  In  127-!  there  was  a  Venetian  law  '  Pe  Litteris  Canibii.' 
Compare  on  this  subject  Villeneuve-Bargemont,  Hist,  d' Ecijnoiiue  J'o/iti^tie, 
torn.  i.  pp.  277--!7'.i;  Blaiunii,  J/ixf.  d'E<-on.  7V.,  torn.  i.  p.  1S3  ;  Montes- 
quieu, Efj/rit  (l-n  L<>is.  liv.  xxi.  c.  •_'("»  ;  and  the  tractate  of  Jules  Thicurry,  To, 
Let/re  (k  Chany<-  ( I'arN,  180i'. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  273 

medicine  and  money-lending  unmolested,  and  public  opinion, 
as  well  as  the  law,  looked  upon  them  with  tolerance.1 

The  tolerant  spirit  the  commercial  classes  manifested  to- 
wards the  Jews  before  the  Reformation  was  displayed  with 
equal  clearness  towards  both  Catholics  and  Protestants  in 
the  convulsions  that  followed  it.  In  addition  to  the  reasons  I 
have  already  given,  there  were  two  causes  actively  sustaining 
the  predisposition. 

In  the  first  place,  the  industrial  character  is  eminently 
practical.  The  habit  of  mind  that  distinguishes  it  leads  men 
to  care  very  little  about  principles,  and  Arery  much  about 
results  ;  and  this  habit  has  at  least  a  tendency  to  act  upon 
theological  judgments. 

In  the  second  place,  religious  wars  and  persecutions  have 
always  proved  extremely  detrimental  to  industry.  The 
expulsions  of  the  Jews  and  Moors  from  Spain,  and  of  the 
Huguenots  from  France,  were  perhaps  the  most  severe  blows 
ever  directed  against  the  industry  of  either  country ;  while 
the  nations  which  on  these  or  similar  occasions  were  wise 
enough  to  receive  the  fugitives,  reaped  an  immediate  and  an 
enormous  advantage.  The  commercial  genius  of  the  Jewish 
exiles  was  one  of  the  elements  in  the  development  of  Leg- 
horn, Pisa,  and  Ancona.  Amsterdam  owes  a  very  large  part 
of  its  prosperity  to  the  concourse  of  heretics  who  had  been 
driven  from  Bruges  and  from  the  surrounding  country.  The 
linen  mauufactuic  in  Ireland,  as  well  as  many  branches  of 
English  industry,  were  greatly  stimulated  by  the  skill  and 
capital  of  the  French  refugees.  French  commerce  received  a 
powerful  and  Icii^'-sustained  impul>e  from  the  good  relation- 


274  RATIONALISM   EST   EUROPE. 

Francis  I.  had  established  "with  the  Turks.  It  was  not  there* 
fore  surprising  that  Amsterdam,  and  in  a  less  degree  the 
other  centres  of  commercial  enterprise,  should  have  been 
from  an  early  period  conspicuous  for  their  tolerance,  or  that 
the  diffusion  of  the  industrial  spirit  should  have  everywhere 
prepared  the  way  for  the  establishment  of  religious  liberty. 

Another  consequence  of  the  rise  of  the  industrial  spirit 
was  the  decay  of  the  theological  ideal  of  voluntary  poverty 
which  had  created  the  monastic  system.  Immediately  after 
the  Crusades  we  find  nearly  all  Europe  rushing  with  extreme 
and  long-sustained  violence  into  habits  of  luxury.  The 
return  of  peace,  the  contact  Avith  the  luxurious  civilisations 
of  the  East,  the  sudden  increase  of  wealth  that  followed  the 
first-  impetus  of  commerce,  had  all  contributed  to  the  move- 
ment. An  extraordinary  richness  of  dress  was  one  of  its  first 
signs,  and  was  encountered  by  a  long  succession  of  sump- 
tuary laws.  At  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  we  find 
Philip  the  Fair  regulating  with  the  most  severe  minuteness 
the  number  and  quality  of  the  dresses  of  the  different  classes 
of  his  subjects.1  About  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century 
a  parliament  of  Edward  III.  passed  no  less  than  ei^ht  laws 
against  French  fashions.2  Even  iu  Florence,  among  the 

1  Sec  this  ordinance  (which  was  issued  in  1291)  in  Blanqui,  IIist.d'lEcono- 
mle  Pol'.iique,  torn.  i.   pp.   2i!3,  fiiiO.     Jt   provided,  among  other  things,  that 
dukes,  counts,  and  barons,  ivlio  have  G.OOo  livres  rent,  may  have  four  robes  a 
year,  and   their  wives  as   many.     Knights  with    3,000   livres   ivnt  may  have 
ihrce.     Xo  member  of  the  middle  class  may  wear  any  ornament  of  gold  or 
precious  stones,  or  any  dress  that  was  green  or  gray.    As  M.  Blanqui  observes, 
<ii' tides  of  luxury  would  have  been  imported  necessarily  from  foreign  countries 
T.mo  France,  which  would  necessitate  an  export  of  Fivnch  gold — according  to 
the  current  notions  the  greatest  evil  that  could  befall  the  country. 

2  Anderson,  11-i-st.  of  Commerce,  vol.  i,   p.   103.     See,  too,  p.  179.     More 
than  a  century  after  the  passi  m  for  dress  reached  Scotland,  when  the  alarmed 
and  indignant   legislators   enacted   (in    1457)  that  the  wives  and  daughters  of 
merchants  should  'be  abuilzied  ['dressed,'  from  '  habiller ']  gangand  and  cor 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTOET   OF    RATIONALISM.  275 

officers  of  the  republic,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  was  one  especially  appointed  '  to  repress  the  luxury 
of  women.' l  Bruges,  which  had  then  risen  to  great  wealth, 
became  very  famous  in  this  respect ;  and  the  French  king 
and  queen  having  visited  it  early  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
it  is  related  that  the  latter  was  unable  to  restrain  her  tears; 
for,  as  she  complained,  she  '  found  herself  in  presence  of  600 
ladies  more  queenly  than  herself."  The  fearful  depopulation 
that  was  produced  by  the  black  death  greatly  strengthened 
the  tendency.  The  wages,  and  consequently  the  prosperity, 
of  the  working  classes  rose  to  an  unexampled  height, 
which  the  legislators  vainly  tried  to  repress  by  fixing  the 
maximum  of  wages  by  law  ; s  while  the  immense  fortunes 
resulting  from  the  innumerable  inheritances,  and  also  that 
frenzy  of  enjoyment  which  is  the  natural  reaction  after  a 
great  catastrophe,  impelled  the  upper  classes  to  unprece- 
dented excesses  of  luxury.  This  new  passion  was  but  part 
of  a  great  change  in  the  social  habits  of  Europe,  which  was 
everywhere  destroying  the  old  rude  simplicity,  rendering  the 
nteriors  of  houses  more  richly  and  elaborately  furnished, 
creating  indoor  life,  increasing  the  difference  between  dif- 
ferent ranks,  producing  a  violent  thirst  for  wealth,  and 
making  its  display  one  of  the  principal  signs  of  dignity. 

There  are  few  things  more  difficult  to  judge  than  those 
great  outbursts  of  luxury  that  meet  us  from  time  to  time  in 
history,  and  which,  whenever  they  have  appeared,  have 

reepondeit  for  their  estate;,  t.Viat  is  to  say,  on  their  heads  short  curches  [a  kind 
of  cap]  with  little  hndes  as  are  used  in  Flanders,  England,  and  other  coun- 
tries,    .     .     .     and  that  na  women  weave  tailes  unfit   in  length,  nor  furred 
under  but  on  the  bailie  daie.'     (Ibid.  vol.  Hi.  pp.  280,  281.) 
1  Blanqni,  torn.  i.  p.  250. 

*  Anderson,  vol.  i.  p.  111. 

*  Wade,  History  of  the  3['"1J'-:  ami  Workt/uj  Clause. 


276  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

proved  the  precursors  of  intellectual  or  political  change.  A 
sober  appreciation  of  their  effects  will  probably  be  equally 
removed  from  those  Spartan,  Stoical,  or  monastic  declamations 
which  found  their  last  great  representative  in  Rousseau,  and 
from  the  unqualified  eulogy  of  luxury  in  which  Voltaire  and 
some  of  his  contemporaries  indulged.  Political  economy,  by 
establishing  clearly  the  distinction  between  productive  and  un 
productive  expenditure,  and  by  its  doctrine  of  the  accumula- 
tion of  capital,  has  dispelled  forever  the  old  illusion  that  thg 
rich  man  who  lavishes  his  income  in  feasts  or  pageants  is 
contributing  involuntarily  to  the  wealth  of  the  community  ; 
and  history  unrolls  a  long  catalogue  of  nations  that  have 
been  emasculated  or  corrupted  by  increasing  riches.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  luxury  be  regarded  as  including  all  those 
comforts  which  are  not  necessary  to  the  support  of  life,  its 
introduction  is  the  very  sign  and  measure  of  civilisation ;  and 
even  if  we  regard  it  in  its  more  common  but  less  definite 
sense,  its  increase  has  frequently  marked  the  transition  from 
a  loAver  to  a  higher  stage.  It  represents  the  substitution  oi 
new,  intellectual,  domestic,  and  pacific  tastes  for  the  rude 
warlike  habits  of  semi-barbarism.  It  is  the  parent  of  art, 
the  pledge  of  peace,  the  creator  of  those  refined  tastes  and 
delicate  susceptibilities  that  have  done  so  much  to  soften  the 
friction  of  life.  Besides  tins,  what  in  one  sense  is  a  luxury, 
soon  becomes  in  another  sense  a  necessary.  Society,  in  a 
highly  civilised  condition,  is  broken  up  into  numerous  sec- 
tions, and  each  rank,  except  the  very  lowest,  maintains  its 
position  chiefly  by  the  display  of  a  certain  amount  of  luxury. 
To  rise  to  a  higher  level  in  the  social  scale,  or  at  least  to 
avoid  the  discomfort  and  degradation  of  falling  below  his 
original  rank,  becomes  the  ambition  of  every  man;  and  these 
motives,  by  producing  abstinence  from  marriage,  form  one  of 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  277 

the  principal  checks  upon  population.  However  exaggerated 
may  have  been  the  apprehensions  of  Malthus,  the  controversy 
which  he  raised  has  at  least  abundantly  proved  that,  when 
the  multiplication  of  the  species  is  checked  by  no  stronger 
motive  than  the  natural  disinclination  of  some  men  to  mar- 
riage, when  the  habitual  condition  of  a  large  proportion  of 
the  inhabitants  of  a  country  that  is  already  thickly  inhabited 
is  so  low  that  they  marry  fearlessly,  under  the  belief  that 
their  children  can  fare  no  worse  than  themselves,  when  poor- 
laws  have  provided  a  refuge  for  the  dcstitiite.  and  when  no 
strong  religious  motive  elevates  celibacy  into  a  virtue,  the 
most  fearful  calamities  must  ensue.1  Looking  at  things  upon 
a  large  scale,  there  seem  to  be  two,  and  but  two  adequate, 
checks  to  the  excessive  multiplication  of  the  species :  the  first 
consists  of  physical  and  moral  evils,  such  as  wars,  famines, 
pestilence,  and  vice,  and  those  early  deaths  which  are  so  fre- 
quent among  the  poor;  the  second  is  abstinence  from  mar- 
riage. In  the  middle  ages,  the  monastic  system,  by  dooming 
many  thousands  to  perpetual  celibacy,  produced  this  absti- 
nence, and  consequently  contributed  greatly  to  avert  the 
impending  evil.'  It  is  true  that  the  remedy  by  itself  was 
very  inadequate.  It  is  also  true  that,  considered  in  its 
economical  aspect,  it  was  one  of  the  worst  that  could  be  con- 
ceived ;  for  it  greatly  diminished  the  productive  energies  of 
society,  by  consigning  immense  numbers  to  idleness,  and  by 
diffusing  a  respect  for  idleness  through  the  whole  community 
But  still  the  monastic  system  was  in  some  measure  a  remedy; 

1  Besides  the  pi-eat  work  of  Malthus,  there  is  an  admirable  exposition  of 
this  doctrine  in  Senior's  P<>!tt!:-al  J:'r,_,,i,,i,,i/.     Perhaps   the  most  eiith;;-iastie 
champion  of  luxury  is  l-'ilan^ieri. 

2  This  has  been  notieed  in  a  very  forcible,  hut,  of  course,  one-sided  manner, 
by  De  Maistre,  who  iveurs  to  the  subj. ct  airain  and  airain  in   his  works.  ;  alsc 
bv  ViUeneuve-Bargemont,  7:'.-</;i. -,//«'<•  J'vK'iquc  Chi-ilunne. 


278  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

and,  as  it  appears  to  me,  the  increased  elaboration  of  social 
life,  rendering  the  passion  for  wealth  more  absorbing,  was 
one  of  the  necessary  preliminaries  of  its  safe  abolition.  That 
elaboration  was  effected  after  the  Crusades,  and  the  change 
it  has  produced  is  very  remarkable.  The  repressive  influence 
upon  population  that  was  once  exercised  by  a  religious 
system  resting  on  the  glorification  of  voluntary  poverty,  and 
designed  to  mortify  the  natural  tendencies  of  mankind,  is 
now  exercised  by  that  increased  love  of  wealth  which  grows 
out  of  the  multiplication  of  secular  aims,  or,  in  other  words, 
out  of  the  normal  development  of  society. 

But,  putting  aside  the  incidental  effects  of  luxury  upon 
population,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  its  effects  in  stimulat- 
ing the  energies  of  mankind,  by  investing  material  advan- 
tages with  a  new  attraction,  have  sometimes  been  very  great 
and  very  beneficial.  For  the  love  of  wealth  and  the  love  of 
knowledge  are  the  two  main  agents  of  human  progress ; 
and,  although  the  former  is  a  far  less  noble  passion  than  the 
latter,  although,  in  addition  to  the  innumerable  crimes  it  has 
produced,  it  exercises,  when  carried  to  excess,  a  more  than 
common  influence  in  contracting  and  indurating  the  charac- 
ter, it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  it  is  not,  on  the  whole, 
the  more  beneficial  of  the  two.  It  has  produced  all  trade, 
all  industry,  and  all  the  material  luxuries  of  civilisation,  and 
has  at  the  same  time  proved  the  most  powerful  incentive 
to  intellectual  pursuits.  "Whoever  will  soberly  examine  the 
history  of  inventions,  of  art,  or  of  the  learned  professions, 
may  soon  convince  himself  of  this.  At  all  events,  the  two 
pursuits  will  usually  rise  together.  The  great  majority  of 
mankind  always  desire  material  prosperity,  and  a  small  mi- 
nority always  desire  knowledge;  but  in  nations  that  are  un- 
developed, or  are  declining,  these  desires  are  unable  to  over 


THE    INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY   OF    RATIONALISM.  279 

come  the  listlessness  that  is  general.  There  is  then  no  buoy- 
ancy in  the  national  character.  All  lively  curiosity,  all  the 
fire  and  energy  of  enterprise,  are  unknown.  Men  may  love 
wealth,  and  even  sacrifice  moral  principles  to  attain  it,  but 
they  are  unable  to  emancipate  themselves  from  the  em- 
pire of  routine,  and  their  languid  minds  recoil  with  the  same 
antipathy  from  novelty,  whether  it  comes  to  them  in  the 
form  of  industrial  enterprise,  or  of  intellectual  innovation. 
This  is  even  now  very  much  the  condition  of  Spain  and  of 
some  other  nations,  and  during  the  greater  part  of  the  middle 
ages  it  was  the  general  condition  of  Christendom.  In  such 
a  state  of  society,  the  creation  of  a  spirit  of  enterprise  is  the 
very  first  condition  of  mental  as  of  material  progress  ;  and 
when  it  is  called  into  existence  in  one  department,  it  will 
soon  be  communicated  to  all.  The  ardent  passion  for  luxury 
that  followed  the  Crusades — the  new  tastes,  new  ideas,  and 
new  fields  of  enterprise  that  were  suddenly  made  popular — 
produced  it  in  Europe;  and  the  impulse  that  began  in  indus- 
try was  soon  felt  in  knowledge.  In  the  .Roman  empire, 
which  rested  on  slavery,  luxury  produced  idleness.  In  the 
fourteenth  century  it  stimulated  industry,  and  aroused  a 
strong  feeling  of  opposition  to  that  monastic  system,  which, 
by  its  enormous  development,  was  a  serious  impediment  to 
progress. 

This  opposition,  which  vas  at  first  created  by  the  increas- 
ed energy  of  laymen,  was  intensified  by  the  deterioration  of 
the  monks.  At  one  time,  as  I  have  already  observed,  they 
had  been  the  great  directors  of  labour.  l>ut  when  their 
numbers  and  their  wealth  had  immensely  increased,  their 
first  enthusiasm  passed  away,  and  multitudes  thronged  the 
monasteries  simply  to  escape  the  burdens  of  life.  He-ides 
this,  the  priesthood  had  become  intimately  allied  with  the 


280  RATIONALISM    IN   EUKOPE. 

nobles,  who  are  always  opposed  to  the  industrial  classes. 
The  alliance  was  in  part  the  result  of  special  circumstances, 
for  the  Crusaaes  were  directed  conjointly  by  priests  and 
nobles;  and  it  was  during  the  Crusades  that  the  aristocracy 
obtained  its  distinct  and  complete  organisation.  It  was  also 
in  part  the  consequence  of  a  certain  harmony  which  exists 
between  the  theological  and  the  aristocratic  spirit.  Both, 
raising  the  past  far  above  the  present,  regard  innovation 
with  extreme  dislike,  and  both  measure  excellence  by  a  dif- 
ferent rule  from  personal  merit. 

If  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  carry  the  reader  with 
me  through  the  foregoing  arguments,  the  importance  of  in- 
dustry in  influencing  theological  developement  will  have  be- 
come apparent.  We  have  seen  that  a  great  religious  change 
is  effected  not  by  direct  arguments,  but  by  a  predisposition 
to  receive  them,  or,  in  other  words,  by  a  change  of  sympa- 
thies and  bias.  AVe  have  also  seen  that  the  industrial  spirit 
which  became  prominent  early  in  the  fourteenth  century  pro- 
duced such  a  change.  It  did  so  in  three  ways.  It  arose  in 
a  society  in  which  the  laity  were  crouching  in  abject  submis- 
sion to  the  priesthood,  and  it  developed  and  raised  to  honour 
the  practice  of  money-lending,  which  the  priesthood  had  in- 
variably anathematised.  It  arose  in  a  society  in  which  the 
duty  of  religious  intolerance  was  regarded  as  an  axiom,  and 
it  produced  a  tendency  towards  toleration  by  uniting  men  of 
different  creeds  in  amicable  intercourse,  by  elevating  to  hon- 
our on  account  of  their  commercial  merits  the  people  who 
were  most  persecuted  on  account  of  their  creed,  by  making 
men  concentrate  their  attention  mainly  on  practice  rather 
than  on  theory,  and  by  calling  into  existence  an  order  of  in- 
terests which  persecution  seriously  endangered.  It,  in  the 
last  place,  made  men  look  with  aversion  upon  the  monastic 


Till:    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  281 

deal  which  was  the  very  centre  of  the  prevailing  theology. 
In  all  these  ways  it  proved  the  precursor  of  the  Reformation, 
an  I  in  all  these  ways  it  harmonised  with  the  spirit  of  Ration- 
alism. 

Commercial  enterprise,  bearing  in  its  train  these  intellec- 
tual consequences,  spread  rapidly  over  Europe.  The  acci 
dental  discovery  at  Amalfi  of  a  manuscript  of  Roman  laws 
is  said  to  have  produced  the  navigation  laws ; l  the  invention 
of  the  compass  rendered  long  voyages  comparatively  secui'e ; 
and  every  shore,  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Mediterranean,  was 
soon  fringed  with  harbours.  In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries  we  find  the  first  mercantile  companies  established 
in  England.2  At  a  still  earlier  period  Belgium  had  entered 
into  relations  with  more  than  thirty  kingdoms  or  states.8 
The  consular  system,  which  emanated  from  the  commercial 
republics,  and  which  was  designed  for  the  special  protection 
of  merchants,  advanced  rapidly  in  importance.4  As  early  as 
the  thirteenth  century  the  consuls  of  Italy,  Spain,  and  France 
had  in  most  countries  acquired  an  extended  and  recognised 
authority.  England,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  fo1  lowed  the 
exnmple,6  and  about  the  same  time  the  jurisdiction  which 
had  formerly  been  confined  to  seaports  was  extended  to  the 
towns  in  the  interior.  From  these  consulships,  or  perhaps 
from  the  papal  legations  which  were  already  known,  arose  at 
l;i>t  the  institution  of  resident  ambassadors,  which  completed 

1  Pecchio,  Moria  ilVn  F.conoinia  Pul>ll.i<-a  in  Itnlia  (Lncra.no,  1840),  p.  11. 

a  Anderson,  llixt.  of  Cvmtmra',  vol.  i.  p.  117.  The  lir.-t  Encrlish  commer- 
cial companies  were  'the  Merchants  of  the  Staple'  and  'the  Merchants  of  St. 
Thomas  a  Becket.' 

3  Van  Bruy.-sel,  IA#t.  <hi  Commerce  T><  V,  torn.  i.  p.  2:',1. 

4  See  the  stages  of  its   development  in  Warden,  Oil  C«n^vl'ir  fjxf'tllixh- 
Hunts. 

6  The  earliest  notice  Macpherson  lias  been  able  to  find  of  an  EniJir-h  COL* 
st.l  is  in  Io4u  (A)t>tats  nf  (?o//<//a'/v<;  vol.  i.  p.  53t>) 


282  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

the  organisation  of  diplomacy,  though  its  influence  was  not 
fully  acquired  till  much  later,  in  the  coalitions  resulting  from 
the  rivalry  of  Francis  and  Charles  V.1  The  Hanseatic 
League  repressed  piracy,  associated  commerce  with  the  first 
efflorescence  of  political  liberty,  and  by  the  treaty  of  Stral- 
gund,  in  1370,  made  commercial  interests  preeminent  in  the 
North;  while  in  the  South  the  Venetians,  anticipating  in 
some  measure  the  doctrines  of  later  economists,  sketched  the 
first  faint  outlines  of  the  laws  that  govern  them.3  At  last 
the  Medici  appeared,  and  surrounded  industry  with  the  aure- 
oles of  genius  and  of  art.  For  the  first  time  the  intellectual 
capital  of  Italy  was  displaced,  and  Rome  itself  paled  before 
that  new  Athens  which  had  arisen  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Aruo.  An  aristocracy,  formed  exclusively  from  the  trading 
and  mercantile  classes,8  furnished  the  most  munificent  and 
discerning  patrons  art  had  ever  found ;  almost  every  great 

1  Before  this  time  ambassadors  were  sent  only  on  occasions  of  emergency 
The  first  instance  of  a  resident  ambassador  seems  to  have  been  in  1455,  when 
Francis  Sforza,  Duke  of  Milan,  established  one  at  Genoa,  and  towards  the 
close  of  the  century  the  institution  became  somewhat  common  in  Italy  (Cibra- 
rio,  EwiHtniM  I'o/itica  dd  JlcJio  Era  [Torino,  1S42],  vol.  i.  p.  010).  It  was 
also  about  this  time  that  the  use  of  cipher  in  diplomacy  became  usual.  (Ibid 
J)e  Plassan,  Jlixf.  J<:  la  Diplomatic  Francainc,  Jntrod.) 

-  M.  Bkuif|ui  has  collected  some  extremely  remarkable  evidence  of  this 
(Jfistorie  d' E<-'>n<>ni'tC  I'olititjuc,  torn.  i.  pp.  244-27<">).  The  Lombards  also 
occasionally  manifested  extremely  enlightened  views  on  these  subjects  (see 
liossi,  JJcoiiMitie  Polili'juc,  torn.  i.  p.  200),  and  Milan,  perhaps  longer  than 
any  other  great  town  in  Europe,  was  exempt  from  the  mediaeval  system  of 
corporations.  However,  the  first  Italian  writer  of  considerable  merit  on 
Political  Economy  was  probably  Ferra,  who  was  a  Xcapolitan,  and  it  was  at 
Naples  that  the  first  .Professorship  of  Political  Economy  in  Europe  waa 
established  in  1751  by  the  munificence  of  the  Florentine  Intieri. 

3  As  early  a.-  12*2,  a  magistracy  had  been  constituted  at  Florence  exclu- 
sively of  merchants  •  and  the  example  was  soon  followed  by  Vienna,  and  in 
a  great  measure  by  Venice  and  (ienoa.  (See  Blanqui,  torn.  i.  p.  245  ;  HossJ, 
torn.  i.  p.  260.) 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATION Al  ISM.  283 

intellectual  movement  was  coloured  by  its  influence,  and  its 
glory  was  reflected  upon  the  class  from  which  it  sprang. 

It  may  here  be  advisable  to  rise  for  a  moment  above  the 
industrial  movement  with  which  we  have  hitherto  been  oc- 
cupied, and  to  endeavour  to  obtain  a  general  conception  of 
I  he  different  streams  of  thought  which  were  at  this  time 
shooting  across  Europe.  Such  a  review,  which  will  be  in 
part  a  summary  of  conclusions  I  have  established  in  previous 
chapters,  will  help  to  show  how  admirably  the  industrial 
movement  harmonised  with  the  other  tendencies  of  the  age, 
and  also  how  completely  the  Reformation  was  the  normal 
consequence  of  the  new  condition  of  society. 

While,  then,  the  development  of  industry  was  producing 
an  innovating,  tolerant,  and  anti-monastic  spirit,  two  great 
revivals  of  learning  were  vivifying  the  intellectual  energies 
of  Christendom. 

The  first  consisted  of  that  resuscitation  of  the  classical 
writings  which  began  about  the  twelfth  century  and  culmi- 
nated in  the  labours  of  Erasmus  and  the  Scaligers.  This  re- 
vival broke  the  intellectual  unity  which  had  characterised 
the  middle  ages.  It  introduced  a  new  standard  of  judgment, 
a  new  ideal  of  perfection,  a  new  order  of  sympathies.  Men 
began  to  expatiate  in  an  atmosphere  of  thought  where  relig- 
ious fanaticism  had  never  entered,  and  where  the;  threaten- 
ings  of  the  dogmatist  were  unknown.  The  spell  that  had 
bound  their  intellects  was  broken,  and  the  old  type  of  char- 
acter gradually  destroyed.  The  influence  of  the  movement 
passed  from  speculative  philosophy  to  art,  which  was  then 
the  chief  organ  of  ivligious  sentiments,  and,  under  the  pat- 
ronage of  the  Medici,  a  profound  change  took  place  in  both 
painting  and  architecture,  which  intensified  the  tendency 
that  produced  it. 


284:  RATIONALISM   IN    EUEOPE. 

The  second  revival  was  produced  by  the  action  of  Moorish 
civilisation.  It  \vas  shown  chiefly  in  an  increased  passion 
for  natural  science,  which  gradually  substituted  the  concep- 
tion of  harmonious  and  unchanging  law  for  the  conception 
of  a  universe  governed  by  perpetual  miracles.  With  this 
passion  for  science,  astrology  rose  into  extraordinary  repute, 
and  it  necessarily  involved  a  system  of  fatalism,  which,  in  its 
turn,  led  the  way  to  a  philosophy  of  history.  From  the 
same  quarter  arose  many  of  those  pantheistic  speculations 
about  the  all-pervasive  soul  of  the  universe,  to  which  the 
writers  of  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries 
were  so  passionately  addicted.1  In  all  these  ways,  Moorish 
influence  contributed  to  shake  the  old  faith,  to  produce  new 
predispositions,  and  thus  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  coming 
change.  Roger  Bacon,  who  was  probably  the  greatest  natu- 
ral philosopher  of  the  middle  ages,  was  profoundly  versed  in 
Arabian  learning,  and  derived  from  it  many  of  the  germs  of 
his  philosophy.*  The  fatalism  of  the  astrologers  and  the 
pantheism  of  Averroes  tinged  some  of  the  most  eminent 
Christian  writings  long  after  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation. 
In  one  respect,  Mahometan  influence  had  somewhat  antici- 
pated the  classical  revival.  The  Mahometan  philosophers 
were  intense  admirers  of  Aristotle  ;  and  it  was  chiefly  through 
translations  made  by  the  Jews  from  the  Arabic  versions, 
that  the  knowledge  of  that  philosopher  penetrated  to  Europe. 

There  was  another  influence,  growing  partly  out  of  the 
industrial  development,  and  partly  out  of  the  revival  of  clas- 
sical learning,  at  this  time  acting  upon  Europe,  which  I  have 


THE   ESTDUSTKIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  285 

not  yet  had  occasion  to  mention,  which  many  readers  will 
deem  far  too  trivial  for  notice,  but  which,  nevertheless,  ap- 
pears to  me  so  extremely  important,  both  as  a  symptom  and 
a  cause,  that  I  shall  venture,  at  the  risk  of  being  accused  of 
unpardonable  digression,  to  trace  some  of  the  leading  stages 
of  its  progress.  I  mean  that  change  in  the  character  of  pub- 
lic amusements,  produced  chiefly  by  the  habits  of  luxury, 
which  took  place  about  the  fifteenth  century,  and  which 
produced  the  revival  of  the  theatre. 

Xo  one  can  question  the  immense  importance  in  the  in- 
tellectual history  of  mankind  of  an  institution  which  elicited 
the  dramas  of  Euripides,  Sophocles,  ^schylus,  Calderon, 
Lope  de  Vega,  Corneille,  Moliere,  Racine,  Voltaire,  Goethe, 
Schiller,  Shakspcare,  and  Ben  Jonson,  and  which  has  invari 
ably  appeai'ed  as  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  signs  and 
causes  of  a  rising  civilisation.  Combining  the  three  great 
influences  of  eloquence,  of  poetry,  and  of  painting,  it  has 
probably  done  more  than  any  other  single  agent  to  produce 
that  craving  after  the  ideal,  that  passionate  enthusiasm  of 
intellect,  out  of  which  all  great  works  of  imagination  have 
sprung.  It  has  been  the  seed-plot  of  poetry  and  romance, 
and  it  lias  exercised  a  considerable  though  less  direct  in- 
fluence over  eloquence.  The  age  of  Demosthenes  and  ./Es- 
cliines  was  also  the  age  in  which  the  theatre  of  Athens  was 
the  object  of  such  a  passionate  devotion,  that  no  politician 
was  permitted  even  to  propose  the  abolition  of  its  subsidy.1 
The  golden  age  of  Roman  eloquence  was  also  the  golden  age 
of  the  Roman  theatre,  and  the  connection  between  acting 
and  eloquence  was  one  of  the  favourite  subjects  of  the  discus- 
sions of  the  time.3  In  modern  days.  Burke  declared,  in  ai> 

1  Pee  the  Oli/iitft/a-'s 

1  Roseiu;-  even  wrote  a  bonk  on  this  subject,  but  it  has  unfortunately  not 


286  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

assembly  in  no  degree  inferior  to  any  of  Greece  or  of  Rome, 
that  there  was  probably  no  orator  among  those  he  addressed, 
who  did  not  owe  something  of  his  skill  to  the  acting  of  Gar- 
rick.1  And  this  amusement,  which  has  ever  proved  one  of 
the  chief  delights,  and  one  of  the  most  powerful  incentives 
of  genius,  had,  at  the  same  time,  the  rare  privilege  of  acting 
with  equal  power  upon  the  opposite  extreme  of  intellect,  and 
is  even  now  almost  the  only  link  connecting  thousands  with 
intellectual  pursuits. 

But  the  aspect  in  which  the  history  of  the  theatre  is  most 
remarkable,  is  perhaps  to  be  found  in  its  influence  upon  na- 
tional tastes.  Every  one  who  considers  the  world  as  it  really 
exists,  and  not  as  it  appears  in  the  writings  of  ascetics  or 
sentimentalists,  must  have  convinced  himself  that  in  great 
towns,  where  multitudes  of  men  of  all  classes  and  charac- 
ters are  massed  together,  and  where  there  are  innumerable 
strangers  separated  from  all  domestic  ties  and  occupations, 
public  amusements  of  an  exciting  order  are  absolutely  neces- 
sary;  and  that,  while  they  are  often  the  vehicle  and  the  occa- 
sion of  evil,  to  suppress  them,  as  was  done  by  the  Puritans 
of  the  Commonwealth,  is  simply  to  plunge  an  immense  por- 
tion of  the  population  into  the  lowest  depths  of  vice.  Na- 
tional tastes,  however,  vary  with  the  different  stages  of  civ- 
ilisation, and  national  amusements  undergo  a  corresponding 
modification ;  combats  of  men  and  animals  being,  for  the 
most  part,  the  favourite  type  in  the  earlier  stages,  and  dra- 
matic representations  in  the  later  ones.  The  history  oi 

fonie  down  to  us.  He  kept  a  school  of  declamation,  which  was  attended  by 
the  ablest  orators  of  his  time.  The  passion  for  the  theatre  is  said  to  have 
come  to  Koine  from  Egypt,  and  Batyllus,  the  greatest  actor  of  the  Augustan 
period,  v/as  from  Alexandria.  See  on  this  subject  a  curious  dissertation, 
'  De  Luxu  Romanorum,'  in  Grn?vius,  Thesaurus  Antiq.  llvin.t  torn.  viii. 
'  Murphy's  Lift  of  Garr-ick. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF    RATIONALISM.  287 

amusements  is  thus  important,  as  a  reflection  of  the  history 
of  civilisation,  and  it  becomes  still  more  so  when  we  remem- 
ber that  institutions  which  are  called  into  existence  by  a  cer- 
tain intellectxial  tendency,  usually  react  upon  and  intensify 
their  cause. 

In  this,  as  in  most  other  respects,  we  find  a  strong  con- 
trast existing  between  the  two  leading  nations  of  antiquity. 
The  Athenians,  who  for  a  long  period  repelled  gladiatorial 
spectacles  with  disgust,  were  passionately  devoted  to  the 
drama,  which  they  carried  to  the  very  highest  point  of  per- 
fection, and  from  which  they  derived  no  small  amount  of 
their  intellectual  culture.  The  Romans,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  regarded  every  subject  from  a  military  point  of  view 
had  long  prohibited  theatrical  repi'esentations,  except  those 
which  formed  part  of  the  worship  of  the  gods.  The  first 
public  theatre  was  erected  by  Pompey,  and  he  only  evaded 
the  censure  of  the  severe  moralists  of  his  time  by  making  it 
a  single  story  of  a  building  that  was  ostensibly  a  temple  of 
Venus.  The  Stoics,  and  the  representatives  of  the  old  re- 
publican spirit,  denounced  the  new  amusement  as  calculated 
to  enervate  the  national  character.  Public  opinion  branded 
actors  as  infamous,  and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  they 
speedily  became  so.  The  civilisation  of  the  Empire  made 
the  theatre  at  last  extremely  popular;  but  that  civilisation 
was  the  most  corrupt  the  Avorld  had  ever  seen,  and  the 
drama  partook  of  the  full  measure  of  its  corruption.  A  few 
rays  of  genius  from  the  pens  of  Seneca,  Plautus,  or  Terence 
flushed  across  the  gloom;  but  IJome  never  produced  any 
dramatists  comparable  to  those  of  Greece,  or  any  audience 
at  all  resembling  that  which  made  the  theatre  ring  with  in- 
dignation because  Euripides  had  inserted  an  apology  i'or 
mental  reservation  into  his  '  Ilippolytus,'  or  had  placed  a  too 


288  RATIONALISM   IN    EUKOPE. 

ardent  panegyric  of  wealth  in  the  mouth  of  Bellerophon, 
After  a  time  the  position  of  an  actor  became  so  degraded, 
that  it  was  made  a  form  of  perpetual  servitude,1  and  no  one 
who  had  embraced  that  profession  Avas  permitted  at  any 
future  time  to  abandon  it.  The  undisguised  sensuality  reach 
cd  a  point  which  we  can  scarcely  conceive.  Women  were 
sometimes  brought  naked  upon  the  stage.2  Occasionally  an 
attempt  was  made  to  amalgamate  theatrical  amusements 
with  those  bloody  spectacles  to  which  the  people  were  so 
passionately  devoted,  and  the  tragedy  was  closed  by  the 
burning  of  a  criminal,  who  was  compelled  to  personate  Her- 
cules.3 At  the  same  time,  by  a  curious  association  of  ideas, 
the  theatre  was  still  intimately  connected  with  religious  ob- 
servances ;  the  temple  was  often  the  scene  of  its  orgies,  and 
the  achievements  of  the  gods  the  subject  of  representation. 

It  is  certainly  not  surprising  that  the  early  writers  of 
Christianity  should  have  directed  all  their  eloquence  against 

1  Nero,  however,  made  enci'getic  efforts  to  relieve  the  actors  from  the 
stigma  attached  to  them  (as  he  did  also  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the 
slaves),  and  Gibbon  has  noticed  the  great  honour  in  which  he  held  the  Jewish 
actor  Aliturus,  and  the  repeated  and  successful  efforts  of  that  actor  to  obtain 
a  relaxation  of  the  persecutions  of  the  Jews.  Under  Xero,  too,  lived  and 
died  (when  only  fourteen)  a  lovely  and  gifted  actress  named  Eucharis — the 
first  who  appeared  on  the  Greek  stage,  which  Nero  had  instituted — who 
seems  to  have  won  more  affection  and  left  a  deeper  impression  than  almost 
any  other  who  died  so  young.  Her  charms  are  recorded  in  perhaps  the  most 
touching  of  all  the  epitaphs  that  have  descended  to  us  from  antiquity,  and  her 
ocautifiil  features  formed  one  of  the  last  ideals  of  expiring  art.  (Visconti, 
fconof/rnp/iic  Anclenne,  287.) 

'-'  See  the  evidence  of  this  collected  by  Sabatier,  Ifisf.  do  la  Li'ffislation 
<i>ir  Irs  7<f;flm«!  PttWiywes,  pp.  45— 47  ;  Magnin,  Orir/h/fs  (In  Tlitatrc,  torn.  i. 
pp.  281-2S7;  and  Lebrun,  Discoitrs  sin-  Ic  Theatre,  pp.  79-82.  This  last 
author  tries  as  much  as  possible  to  attenuate  the  facts  he  admits,  in  order 
that  the  invectives  of  the  Fathers  might  fall  with  their  full  force  on  the 
modern  theatre.  The  Floral  games  were  in  this  respect  the  worst. 

a  Tertullian,  Ad  Sationes,  lib.  i.  c.  10. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF    RATIONALISM.  289 

euch  an  institution  as  this.  They  inveighed  against  it  as  the 
school  of  profligacy,  and  a  centre  of  idolatry;  and  they 
dwelt,  iu  language  which  it  is  impossible  to  read  without 
emotion,  upon  the  duty  of  those  who  might  be  called,  at  any 
moment,  to  endure  for  their  faith  the  most  horrible  forms  of 
torture  and  of  death,  abstaining  from  Avhatever  could  ener- 
vate their  courage  or  damp  their  zeal.  Mingled  with  these 
noble  exhortations  we  find  no  small  amount  of  that  monastic 
spirit  which  regards  pleasure  as  essentially  evil,  and  also  two 
or  three  arguments  which  perhaps  represent  the  extreme 
limits  of  human  puerility.  Tertullian,  having  enumerated 
with  great  force  and  eloquence  many  of  the  most  horrible 
vices  of  the  theatre,  adds  that  at  least  the  Almighty  can, 
never  pardon  an  actor  who,  in  defiance  of  the  evangelical  as- 
sertion, endeavours,  by  high-heeled  boots,  to  add  a  cubit  to 
his  stature,  and  who  habitually  falsifies  his  face.1 

The  position  of  public  amusements  in  the  early  history  of 
Christianity  is  extremely  important.  On  the  one  hand,  the 
austerity  with  which  the  Christians  condemned  them  was 
probably  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  hatred  and  conse- 
quent persecution  of  which  the  early  Church  was  the  victim, 
and  which  contrasts  so  remarkably  with  the  usually  tolerant 
character  of  polytheism.  On  the  other  hand,  when  Chris- 
tianity had  attained  its  triumph,  when  the  intellectual  and 
moral  basis  of  paganism  was  completely  sapped,  and  when 
the  victorious  Church  had  heirun  to  exhibit  something  of  the 
•>pirit  from  which  it  had  suilcred,  the  theatre  and  the  circus 
became  the  last  strongholds  of  the  dying  faith.  Partly  be- 
cause they  had  actually  emanated  from  the  pagan  worship, 
and  partly  because  the  Christian  Councils  and  Fathers  de- 
nounced them  with  an  absolute  and  unqualified  severity, 

1  Ik  Sj,,,:\,,-u'^.  ru 


290  RATIONALISM   EST   EUROPE. 

they  were  soon  regarded  as  the  chief  expression  of  pagan- 
ism ;  and  the  people,  who  endured  with  scarcely  a  murmui 
the  destruction  of  their  temples  and  the  suppression  of  their 
sacrifices,  flew  to  arms  whenever  their  amusements  were 
menaced.  The  servitude,  indeed,  by  which  the  actor  was 
enchained  for  life  to  the  theatre,  was  soon  abrogated  in  the 
case  of  those  who  desired  to  become  Christians ; '  and  the 
bishops  refused  to  baptise  any  actor  who  persisted  in  his 
profession,  and  excommunicated  any  Christian  who  adopted 
it ; 3  but  the  theatres  were  still  thronged  with  eager  specta- 
tors. Indeed,  one  curious  enactment  of  the  Theodosian  Code 
provides  that  some  of  the  temples  should  be  saved  from  the 
general  destruction,  because  they  were  associated  with  pub- 
lic games.3  When  the  bishops  were  manifestly  iinable  to 
suppress  the  public  games,  they  directed  all  their  energies 
to  restricting  them  to  days  that  were  not  sacred.  St.  Am- 
brose succeeded  in  obtaining  the  abolition  of  Sunday  repre- 
sentations at  Milan,  and  a  similar  rule  was  at  last  raised  to  a 
general  law  of  the  empire.4 

It  is  remarkable,  however,  when  considering  the  relations 
of  Christianity  and  Paganism  to  the  theatre,  that  Julian,  who 

1  €'<»!.  Tlttn'L,  lib.  xv.  tit.  7,  1.  8.  If  the  emancipated  actress  turned  out 
badly,  she  was  to  be  dragged  back  to  the  stage  and  kept  there  till  she  was 
'a  ridiculous  old  woman'  (ridlcula  anus). 

*  Xcander,  Church  History,  vol.  ii.  p.  3 "70.    An  old  Council  forbade  Chris- 
tian women  marrying  actors.     The  actors,  however,  at  a  later  period  churned 
one  saint  as   their  patron.     This  was   Ft.  Genetus,  who  was  an  actor  in  the 
reign  of  Diocletian.     According  to  the  legend,  he  was  acting  the  part  of  r» 
Christian  in  a  piece  which  was  designed  to  turn  the  new  religion  to  ridicule, 
when,  between  the  acts,  he  saw  a  vision,  which  converted  him,  and  he  accord- 
ingly proclaimed  his  allegiance  to  Christ  upon  the  stage.     The  emperor  and 
the  audience  at   fir-t  loudly  applauded,  imagining  that  this  was  part  of  the 
play;  but  when  they  discovered  the  truth,  the  actor  was  put  to  death. 

1   Cod.  Th(,><L,  xvi.  10.  G. 

*  I^'brun,  pp.  117,  118  ;    f'.,d.   Thco'l,  xv.  5.  5 


THE   INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  291 

was  by  far  the  most  distinguished  champion  of  the  latter, 
formed  in  this  respect  a  complete  exception  to  his  co-religion- 
ists. His  character  was  formed  after  the  antique  model,  and 
his  antipathy"  to  public  amusements  was  almost  worthy  of  a 
bishop.  Libanius,  it  is  true,  has  left  a  long  disquisition  in 
praise  of  pantomimic  dances,  which,  he  maintained,  were  of 
a  far  higher  artistic  merit  than  sculpture,  as  no  sculptor 
could  rival  the  grace  and  beauty  of  the  dancers ;  biit  on  this 
subject  he  received  no  encouragement  from  his  master.  It 
has  been  ingeniously,  and,  I  think,  justly  remarked,  that  this 
austerity  of  Julian,  by  placing  him  in  direct  opposition  to 
that  portion  of  the  population  which  was  opposed  to  Chris- 
tianity, was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  failure  of  his  attempts 
to  rally  the  broken  forces  of  paganism. 

After  a  time  the  Roman  theatre  languished  and  passed 
away.  The  decline  was  partly  the  result  of  the  ceaseless 
opposition  of  the  clergy,  who  during  the  middle  ages  were 
too  powerful  for  any  institution  to  resist  their  anathema,  but 
still  more,  I  think,  of  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians,  which 
dissolved  the  old  civilisation,  and  therefore  destroyed  the 
old  tastes.  The  theatre  soon  lost  its  attraction  ;  it  lingered, 
indeed,  faintly  for  many  centuries,  but  its  importance  had 
passed  away,  and  about  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century 
most  antiquaries  seem  to  think  the  last  public  theatres  were 
destroyed.  The  amusements  of  men  were  of  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent, and,  for  the  most  part,  of  a  warlike  character.  Battle 
and  the  imitations  of  battle,  boisterous  revels,  the  chase,  and 
alter  the  Crusades,  the  gaming-table,  became  the  delight  of 
the  upper  classes;  while  the  poor  found  congenial  recreation 
in  bear-baiting,  bull-lighting,  and  countless  similar  amuse- 
ments— in  fairs,  dances  perambulant  musicians,  sham  tights, 


292  EATIOXALISM   IX   ETJEOPE. 

and  rude  games.1  Besides  these,  there  were  numerous 
mountebanks,  who  were  accustomed  to  exhibit  feats  of  min- 
gled agility  and  buffoonery,  which  were  probably  the  origin 
of  the  modern  pantomime,  and  in  which,  as  it  has  been  shown 
by  a  high  authority,5  there  is  reason  to  believe  a  dress  very 
similar  to  that  of  our  harlequins  was  employed.  It  is  prob- 
ably to  these  mountebanks,  or  possibly  to  the  troubadours 
or  wandering  minstrels,  who  had  then  become  common,  that 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas  referred  in  a  passage  which  excited  a 
fierce  controversy  in  the  seventeenth  century.  In  discussing 
the  subject  of  amusement,  the  saint  suggested  the  question 
whether  the  profession  of  an  'actor'  was  essentially  sinful; 
and,  having  enumerated  some  special  circumstances  that 
might  make  it  so,  he  answers  the  question  in  the  negative,' 

1  Strutt's  Sports  and  Pastimes  of  the  E,,yU.<Ji  People.     Muratori.  -•!/>%. 
Ital.  Dissert.,  29.    In  Italy  the  fham  lights  wore  carried  on  on  a  vast  scale  an. I 
with  wooden  swords,  and  were  the  cause  of  many  deaths.      Amusements 
somewhat  similar  to  those  which  were  once  popular  in  Italy  are  said  to  con- 
tinue in  Russia.     Storch,  Emn.  Polit.,  torn.  iii.  p.  403. 

2  Riccoboni,  Hist,  du  Theatre  I/alien  depuis  I' an  1500  jwifjua  Van  1CCO, 
torn.  i.  pp.  4-G.     The  author  of  this  remarkable  book  (who  was  known  pro- 
fessionally  under  the  name  of  Lelio)  was   one  of  the  greatest  Italian  actors 
of  his  time.     lie  travelled  much  from  theatre  to  theatre,  and  in  the  different 
cities  he  vi.-ited  ransacked  the  public  libraries  for  works  bearing  upon  his 
history.      I  tin   book   was   originally  written  in  I'rench,  and  is  dedicated  to 
Queen  Caroline  of  I]:!gland. 

s  He  says  distinctly,  'Offichim  histrionum,  quod  oruinatur  ad  solatium 
hominibus  exhibenduin,  noil  est  sccundum  se  illicitum.'  It  appears  certain 
that  when  this  was  written  there  were  no  public  theatres  or  dramatic  repre- 
sentations, except  the  religious  ones.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  impossible  to 
Ji  aw  a  clear  line  between  the  public  recitation  of  verses  or  the  exhibitions 
of  mountebanks  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  simplest  forms  of  tl  e  drama  upon 
the  other.  Uo-stiet  has  cited  a  pa—age  from  !-'t.  Thomas's  work  JJe  S(i<ten- 
(Us,  in  \\iiich  lie  speaks  of  the  exhibitions  that  had  '  forme:  ly  taken  place  in 
the  theatre-.'  At  :;]]  events,  the  saint  was  not  very  f'uy.urable  to  these  'his- 
triones,'  for  he  speaks  of  gains  that  have  been  acquired  '  de  turpi  cau>;'t, 
sicut  de  int  r>trl<'xi  if  /( <'.>•/, •«'<>//"/«.'  S-e  on  this  subject  Con'-ina,  J')e  Ay^o 
tu'-ii'ls,  pp.  .'ifj-ll  ;  I. eb run,  ]>lx.-f>)ira  -ur  le  Y'/«Y'//-< .  pp.  1 -V..*-i!i4  ;  Bonnet 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  293 

because,'  as  he  says,  'recreation  is  necessary  to  mankind,' 
and  also  because  '  it  had  been  revealed  to  the  blessed  Paph- 
nutius  that  a  clown '  was  to  be  his  companion  in  heaven.' 

Such,  then,  was  the  character  of  public  amusements  before 
the  revival  of  learning.  The  time,  however,  was  at  hand 
when  a  profound  change,  fraught  with  momentous  conse- 
quences to  the  Church,  was  manifested ;  and  it  is  worthy  of 
notice,  that  while  that  change  was  ultimately  caused  by  the 
advance  of  civilisation,  the  Church  itself  was  its  pioneer. 
The  first  revival  of  the  theatre  is  undoubtedly  to  be  found  in 
the  religious  plays.  From  the  earliest  times  men  seem  to 
have  been  accustomed  to  throw  into  dramatic  forms  the  ob- 
jects of  their  belief;  and  the  pagan  mysteries,  which  were 
essentially  dramatic,2  retained  their  authority  over  the  popu- 
lar mind  long  after  every  other  portion  of  the  ancient  wor- 
ship was  despised.  The  first  biblical  play  on  record  is  on 
Moses,  and  is  the  composition  of  a  Jew  named  Ezekiel,  who 
lived  in  the  second  century.  The  second  is  a  Greek  tragedy 
on  the  Passion,  by  St.  Gregory  Xazianzen.  The  religious 
ceremonies,  and  especially  those  for  Christmas,  Epiphany, 
and  Holy  Week,  became  continually  more  dramatic,  and  the 
monks  and  nuns  after  a  time  began  to  relieve  the  monotony 
of  the  cloister  by  private  representations.  The  earliest  known 
instance  of  this  is  of  the  tenth  century,  when  a  German  ab- 

1  '  Joculator.'  Bonnet,  however,  says  that  the  Ads  of  St.  Faphnutius 
show  that  this  was  simply  a  perambulant  flute-player.  After  all,  ISossuet  is 
obliged  to  make  the  following  admission  :  '  A  pros  avoir  purge  la  doctrine  de 
Saint  Thomas  des  execs  dont  on  la  chargeoit,  il  faut  avoucr  avce  le  respect 
qui  est  du  a  un  si  grand  liomme,  qu'il  semble  s'etre  un  pen  eloigne,  jo  no 
dirai  pas  des  sentimens  dans  le  fond,  tnais  plutut  des  expressions  des  anciens 
Peres  sur  le  sujet  des  divertissemons.'  (AV/'< .>•/'>;<«  sur  la  Comulic,  §  31.) 

3  Mackay's  RJiiiions  Ikrcl^jnntid  of  i/ic  (/ /•«/.>;  and  Hcbretrs,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
286-297.  Besides  the  drama,  it  is  probable  that  the  gladiatorial  spectacles 
(which  are  of  Etruscan  origin)  were  originally  religious.  They  seem  at  firsl 
to  have  been  celebrated  at  the  graves,  and  in  honour  of  the  dead. 


294:  RATIONALISM   EN'    EUROPE. 

bess  named  Hroswitha  composed  two  or  three  dramas,  with 
a  religious  object,  but  imitated,  it  is  said,  in  part  from  Ter- 
ence, which  were  acted  by  the  nuns.  The  subject  of  one  of 
them  is  curious.  A  hermit  had  brought  up  in  the  ways  of 
piety  a  beautiful  girl,  but  she  rebelled  against  his  authority, 
neglected  his  counsels,  and  fled  to  a  house  of  ill  fame.  The 
hermit,  having  discovered  the  place  of  her  resoi't,  assumed 
the  dress  and  the  manners  of  a  soldier,  penetrated  to  her  re- 
treat, supported  his  character  so  skilfully  that  he  deceived  its 
inmates,  and  at  last  found  an  opportunity  of  reclaiming  his 
ward.1 

In  the  extreme  weariness  of  the  conventual  life,  amuse- 
ments of  this  kind  were  welcomed  with  delight,  and,  though 
often  and  severely  censured,  they  continued  in  some  monas- 
teries till  far  into  the  eighteenth  century.2  The  form,  hoAV- 
ever,  which  they  generally  assumed  was  not  that  of  secular 
dramas  with  a  religious  tendency,  but  of  mysteries  or  direct 
representations  of  scenes  from  Scripture  or  from  the  lives  of 
the  saints.  Until  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century 
they  were  exclusively  Latin,  and  were  usually  acted  by 
priests  in  the  churches ;  but  after  this  time  they  assumed 
a  popular  form,  their  religious  character  speedily  declined, 
and  they  became  at  last  one  of  the  most  powerful  agents  in 
bringing  the  Church,  and  indeed  all  religion,  into  disrepute.1 
The  evidence  of  this  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  representations 


1  Hoc  Villermin,   Hoym  Aye;    Martonne,   P'»'t>':  <ln  3f»>/cn  Ay  ;   Leroy, 
Jfairln  tur  Ics  Myxttrcs,  p.  41. 

2  Concilia,   who  published  his   work,  DC  fy'-<-tricul'tx,  in   ]To2,  at  the  re- 
qne-t  of  Benedict  XIV.,  mentions  that  the  custom   still  continued  in   soms 
monasteries  ;  ami  he  devoted  a  dissertation  to  proving  that  monks  who  laid 
tsi'lo  their  eccle.-ia-tiral  dre~>  to  personate  laymen  were  guilty  of  mortal  sin. 

3  Sec  the  oollo<-tions  of  those  by  Hone,  Juhinal,  Jacob,   &c. ;    and    tlif 
vorks  of  Leroy,  Suard.  and  Collier  upon  their  history. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  295 

of  the  Almighty  that  were  so  frequent  upon  the  stage ; '  for 
these,  though  inexpressibly  shocking  in  our  eyes,  were  per- 
fectly in  harmony  with  the  intellectual  condition  of  the  time ; 
but  rather  in  the  gross  indecency  which  the  worst  days  of 
the  Roman  theatre  had  scarcely  surpassed,'  and  perhaps  still 
more  in  the  strange  position  that  was  assigned  to  Satan.  At 
first  the  mysteries  had  probably  contributed  much  to  the  re- 
ligious terrorism.  The  glare  and  smoke  of  the  fire  of  hell 
were  constantly  exhibited,  and  piercing  shrieks  of  agony 
broke  npon  the  ear.  Very  soon,  however,  Satan  was  made 
to  act  the  part  of  a  clown.  His  appearance  was  greeted 
with  shouts  of  laughter.  He  became  at  once  the  most  prom- 
inent and  most  popular  character  of  the  piece,  and  was  eman- 
cipated by  virtue  of  his  character  from  all  restraints  of  deco- 
rum. One  of  the  most  impressive  doctrines  of  the  Church 
was  thus  indissolubly  associated  in  the  popular  mind  with 
the  ridiculous,  and  a  spirit  of  mockery  and  of  satire  began  to 
play  around  the  whole  teaching  of  authority. 

It  is  difficult,  indeed,  to  say  how  far  these  rude  dramatic 
representations  contributed  to  that  disruption  of  old  religious 
ties  that  preceded  and  prepared  the  Reformation.  At  a, 

1  On  which   see  Malone,  II!*t.  of  the  Enyl'ith  Sfaw,   pp.    12,  i:>.      Some 
curious  examples  of  it  have  been  collected  by  Hone  ;  and  also  in   Struu'd 
History  of  the  Manners  of  the  People  of  England,  vol.  iii.  pp.  loT-MO. 

2  Some  striking  instances  of  this  indecency,  which   indeed  is  sutlieieutly 
manifest  in  most  of  the  mysteries,  are  given  by  Jacob  in  his  Introduction  to 
his  collection  of   Farces.     Wherever  the  seventh  commandment  was  to  be 
broken,  the  actors  disappeared  behind  a  curtain  which  was  liunc;  across  a 
part  of  the  stage;  and  this   is  the  origin  of  the  l-'r.-nch  proverbial  expression 
about  things  that  are  done  'derricre  le  ridoau.'     More  than  once  the  Govern- 
ment suppressed  the  sacred  plays  in  France  on    account  of  their  evil  effects 
upon  morals.     In  England  matters  seem  to  have  been  if  possible  wor.-e  ;  and 
\\  artoii  has-  shown  that  on  at  lea.-t  one  occasion  in  the  fifteenth  century,  Adaiu 
and  Eve  were  brought  upon  the  stage  strictly  in  their  state  of  innocence.     Iii 
the  next  scene  the  tig-leaves  were  introduced.     (Malone's  JUttm-i/  »f  tlic  Eng- 
lish £t-.iye,  pp.  15,  10. J 


21)6  EATIONALISM   IJST   EUEOPE. 

very  early  period  those  strange  festivals,  the  Feast  of  Fools 
and  the  Feast  of  Asses,1  had  introduced  into  the  churches  in- 
decent dances,  caricatures  of  the  priesthood,  and  even  a  paro- 
dy of  the  Mass ;  and  the  mysteries  of  the  fourteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries  carried  the  same  spirit  far  and  wide.  But 
what  I  desire  especially  to  notice  is,  that  their  popularity 
vvras  mainly  due  to  that  material  prosperity  which  was  it- 
self a  consequence  of  the  industrial  development  we  are 
considering.  This  growing  passion  for  an  order  of  amuse- 

O  O  o      JL 

nients  in  some  degree  intellectual,  this  keen  relish  for  specta- 
cles that  addressed  themselves  especially  to  the  imagination, 
was  the  beginning  of  that  inevitable  transition  from  the  rude, 
simple,  warlike,  unartistic,  unimaginative  tastes  of  barbarism, 
to  the  luxurious,  refined,  and  meditative  tastes  of  civilisation. 
Coarse  and  corrupt  as  they  were,  these  early  plays  reflected 
the  condition  of  a  society  that  Avas  struggling  feebly  into  a 
new  phase  of  civilisation,  and  which  at  the  same  time,  though 
still  deriving  its  conceptions  from,  the  Church,  was  tending 
surely  and  rapidly  towards  secularisation. 

The  change  was  first  effected  in  Italy  and  France.  In 
those  countries,  which  were  then  the  centres  of  material 
prosperity,  the  dramatic  tastes  had  naturally  been  most 
developed,  and  the  mysteries  had  attained  an  extraordinary 
popularity.  A  modern  Italian  bibliographer  has  been  able 
even  now  to  collect  more  than  one  hundred  different  pieces 
of  this  kind,  which  were  represented  in  Italy  in  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries.2  About  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 

1  The  Feast  of  Fool-  and  the  Feast  of  Asses  are  said  to  have  originated 
(thoirjh  probably  under  other  names)  in  the  Greek  Church  about  900.  (Ma- 
lone' »  Hid.  nf  L'nr/.ixh  Jit"</<\  p.  ',».)  La  Mere  Suite,  in  France,  originated,  or 
at  least  became  popular,  dining  the  quarrel  between  the  Kinir  of  France  and 
the  Pope,  at  the  bi'_innin_r  of  the  tenth  century.  (Mi uiteil,  Hid.  dcs  2' 'ran- 
fais  dcs  Diverges  Lt'ttx,  toin.  iii.  p.  -M-,  id.  1  *.">::.) 

'  JJifj'ioi/i-i'jia   (/<;'/<;    Anti'-lv.-   A'-'y '/"''•'" -"f'-'-'-i'J"'-   Ital^mc   Xacrf,   e   Profmu 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    Ol>    RATIONALISM.  207 

century  the  exhibitions  of  the  mountebanks  began  to  be 
thrown  into  a  systematic  form.  A  complete  story  \s  as  ex- 
hibited, and  the  harlequin  rose  to  great  prominence  as  chief 
actor. :  We  find,  too,  a  few  representations  of  Pagan  fables, 
and  also  some  plays  that  were  termed  impromptus,  in  which 
the  outline  of  a  plot  was  sketched  by  the  author,  but  the 
dialogue  left  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  actor.  Besides  these, 
dialogues,  or  discussions  of  the  nature  of  farces,1  became  com- 
mon ;  and  having  passed  from  Italy  to  France,  they  there 
assumed  the  dimensions  of  regular  dramas,  sometimes  of  very 
considerable  merit.  One  of  them,  the  famous  farce  of 
'  Patelin,'  which  was  probably  composed  about  1468  by 
Peter  Blanchet,  an  advocate  of  Poitiers,  still  holds  its  posi- 
tion upon  the  French  stage.3  The  directors  of  the  religious 
plays  attempted  to  meet  these  new  rivals  by  the  invention 
of  semi-religious  '  moralities,'  which  were  properly  repre- 
sentations of  allegorical  figures  of  virtues  and  vices,4  and  were 

•tawpate  nd  Sccoli  XV.  c  XVI. ,  dal  Colomb  de  Satincs  (Firenzc,  1852).  One 
)f  these  mysteries,  the  S.  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  was  writ  en  by  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici  himself  (Roscoe,  Lorenzo  d<?  Mi.dici,  cli.  v.). 

1  Riccoboni,  torn.  i.  p.  89.  One  of  the  most  famous  of  the  early  harle- 
quins was  Cecchino,  who  is  also  celebrated  for  having  published  at  Venice,  in 
1021,  perhaps  the  first  defence  of  the  theatre.  lie  was  ennobled  by  the 
Emperor  of  Germany. 

a  These  farces,  in  the  earliest  and  simplest  forms,  were  called  'contrasti' 
in  Italian,  or  '  debats '  in  French.  De  Batines  has  made  a  list  of  several 
which  were  translated  from  Italian  into  French  ;  e.  g.  the  discussions  between 
wine  and  water,  between  life  and  death,  between  man  and  woman,  &e.  Italian 
actors  sometimes  migrated  to  France,  and  in  1577  we  find  a  regular  Italian 
company,  called  I  Gelosi,  there. 

5  As  a  comic  opera,  and  also,  I  believe,  as  a  play.  The  popularity  of  the 
farce  of  Pitt  Jin  produced  I.c  Xo>rr«tu  Piittlin  and  Le  Testament  dt  Paldhi, 
5oth  of  which  have  been  renrintod  by  Jacob.  Ilallam  says  (Ifisl.  <>f  Li! , 
vol.  i.  p.  210)  that  the  farce  of  Patdin  was  first  printed  in  1400.  There  la 
extreme  uncertainty  resting  upon  the  early  chronology  of  the  drama  ;  scarcely 
any  two  authorities  agree  upon  the  subject. 

4  The  term  'morality,'  however,  was  very  loosely  used.     Jacob  has  r» 


298  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

intended  to  act  the  part  of  a  compromise  ;  but  the  farces  soon 
became  the  dominating  form,  and  all  other  performances  sank 
into  secondary  importance.1  Latin  plays  were  also  some- 
times acted  by  the  scholars  in  the  colleges,  a  practice  which 
was  afterwards  made  very  popular  by  the  Jesuits. 

This  was  the  first  stage  of  the  movement.  The  second 
was  the  creation  of  secular  plays  of  a  higher  order  of  merit, 
which  completely  superseded  and  destroyed  the  mysteries.1 
Like  the  former,  this  advance  emanated  chiefly  from  the  com- 
mercial civilisation  of  Florence,  but  it  is  extremely  remark- 
able that  the  leaders  of  the  Church  in  Italy  were  among  its 
most  ardent  supporters.  The  first  regular  Italian  comedy 
appears  to  have  been  the  '  Calandra,'  and  its  author  was  the 
Cardinal  Bibbiena,  who  had  long  been  secretary  to  Lorenzo 

printed  an  old  play,  called  La  MoraRte  de  VAvcugle  ct  du  Eoiteux,  which  is 
nothing  more  than  a  farce.  From  the  religious  plays  the  personifications 
passed  to  the  ballets,  in  which  they  still  sometimes  appear.  An  old  French 
poem  describes  in  rapturous  terms  the  performance  of  a  certain  Madame  de 
Brancas,  in  the  character  of  Geometry,  in  a  ballet  on  the  seven  liberal  arts, 
danced  before  Louis  XIV.  in  1663. 

1  Farces  appear  also  to  have  been  the  chief  form  of  dramatic  literature  in 
Spain  in  the  fifteenth  century.     See  Bouterwek's  Hist,  of  Spanish  Literature. 
They  were  followed  by  eclogues. 

2  Some  remains,  however,  of  the  mysteries  continue  to  the  present  day, 
especially  in  the  villages  of  the  Tyrol.    There  is  still,  too,  a  great '  passion  play,' 
is  it  is  termed,  celebrated  every  tenth  year  at   the  little  village  of  Oberam- 
rncrgau,  in  Bavaria,  near  the  frontiers  of  the  Tyrol,  which,  though  it  is  not 
more  than  300  years  old,  and  though  it  is  almost  entirely  devoid  of  grotesque 
scenes,  may  be  on  the  whole  looked  upon  as  a  representative  of  the  mediieval 
plays.     It  consists  of  scenes  from  the  Passion  (beginning  at   the  triumphal 
entry  into  Jerusalem,  and  ending  with  the  appearance  to  the  Magdalene  after 
the  Resurrection),  between  which  pictures  from  the  <  'Id  Testament  (partly 
wax-work  and  partly  tableaux  vivants),  typical  of  the  Passion,  are  displayed. 
A  chorus,  like  those  of  the  Greek  plays,  sings  hymns   concerning  the  connec- 
tion between  the  type  and  the  antitype.     When  I  saw   it  in   1860,  the  plfij 
lasted  for  7£  hours,  and  commanded  the  attention  of  an  immense  audience  tr 
the  close. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF    RATIONALISM. 

de'  Medici.1  The  play  was  probably  written  in  the  last  few 
years  of  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the  author  was  still 
young,  but  it  at  all  events  did  not  impede  his  advancement 
in  the  Church.  The  two  first  Italian  tragedies  were  the 
'  Sophonisba  '  of  Trissino,  which  was  imitated  from  Euripides, 
and  the  '  Rosimunda  '  of  Ruccellai,  which  was  imitated  from 
Seneca.  The  '  Sophonisba '  was  acted  for  the  first  time  at 
Vicenza,  about  1514,  and  was  soon  afterwards  represented  at 
Rome  under  the  special  patronage  of  Leo  X.,  who  appointed 
its  author  ambassador  at  the  court  of  the  Emperor  Maximil- 
ian. The  'Rosimunda'  was  first  acted,  in  the  presence  of 
the  same  Pope,  at  Florence,  in  1515."  The  earliest  instance 
of  a  secular  musical  drama  is  the  ;  Orpheus '  of  Politiano, 
which  was  composed  for  the  amusement  and  acted  in  the 
presence  of  the  Cardinal  Gonzaga  of  Mantua.'  A  few  years 
later  we  find  Clement  VII.  present  with  the  Emperor  Charles 
V.,  at  Bologna,  at  the  representation  of  the  comedy  of  '  The 
Three  Tyrants,'  by  Ricci.'  As  a  natural  consequence  of  this 
patronage,  the  Italian  theatre  at  its  commencement  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  very  hostile  to  the  Church,  and  in  this 
respect  forms  a  marked  contrast  to  the  theatre  of  France. 
The  'Eugenie'  of  Jodclle,  which  was  the  first  regular  comedy 

1  Riceoboni,  toin.  i.  pp.  32,  33.  The  Calandra  is  now  nearly  forgotten, 
but  its  author  will  always  be  remembered  as  the  subject  of  two  of  the  noblest 
of  the  portraits  of  Raphael, — one  at  Florence,  and  the  other  at  Madrid. 

3  Compare  Riccoboni,  torn.  ii.  pp.  9,  10  ;  and  Sismondi,  Hist,  de  la  Lit- 
teralurc  du  Midi,  torn.  ii.  pp.  188-199.     The  two  pieces  seem   to  have  been 
acted  nearly  at  the  same  time ;  but  the  SojjJionixba  was  not  printed  for  some 
years  afterwards.      Ruccellai  also  wrote  a  play  called  Orestes,  which,  how- 
ever, was  not  brought  at  this  time  on  the  stage. 

*  Roseoe's  Lorenzo  de'  Medln,  ch.  v. ;  Hogarth's  Memoirs  of  the  Ojitra, 
pp.  6-8.  Of  course,  as  Ilallam  has  observed,  recitative  not  being  yet  in- 
vented,  the  music  was  confined  to  choruses  and  songs  scattered  throughout 
the  piece. 

4  Riccoboni,  torn.  i.  p.  !83. 


300  RATIONALISM   ET   EU2OPE. 

acted  on  the  French  stage,  was  throughout  what  many  of  the 
older  farces  had  been,  a  bitter  satire  upon  the  clergy.1 

One  of  the  most  important  consequences  of  this  revival 
of  the  theatre  was  the  partial  secularisation  of  music.  This 
art,  to  which  the  old  Greeks  had  ascribed  so  great  a  power 
over  both  mind  and  body,  and  which  some  of  their  states 
had  even  made  an  essential  element  of  the  civil  polity,2  had 
for  many  centuries  been  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Church. 
Almost  all  the  music  that  really  deserved  .the  name  was  ec- 
clesiastical, and  all  the  great  names  in  musical  history  had 
been  ecclesiastics.  St.  Ignatius  having,  according  to  the 
legend,  heard  the  angels  singing  psalms  in  alternate  strains 
before  the  throne  of  God,  introduced  the  practice  of  aii- 
tiphons.  St.  Ambrose  regulated  the  church  music  for  the 
diocese  of  Milan,  and  St.  Gregory  the  Great  for  the  re- 
mainder of  Christendom.  St.  YvTilfrid  and  St.  Dunstan  were 
the  apostles  of  music  in  England.  In  the  eleventh  century, 
the  monk  Guido  of  Arezzo  invented  the  present  system  of 
musical  notation.  Xearly  at  the  same  time,  the  practice  of 
singing  in  parts,  and  combining  several  distinct  notes  in 
a  single  strain,3  which  is  the  basis  of  modern  harmonies, 

1  See  Charles,  La  Conudic  en  France  au   Kcizume  Slide  (1862).     Ricco- 
ooni,  however,  asserts  that  Moliere  took  the  character,  and  even  some  of  the 
incidents  and  speeches,  of  his  Tartujfe  from  an  old  Italian  play  called  Doctor 
Rachctone  (torn.  i.  p.  137). 

2  Among  the  Arcadians,  for  example,  music  was  compulsory,  and  the  one 
district  in  which  this  custom  fell  into  desuetude  was  said  to  have  sunk  far 
below  the  surrounding  civilisation.     There  is  a  singularly  curious  chapter  on 
the  effects  ascribed  to  music  among  the  Greeks,  in  Uurney's  History  of  Music, 
?ol.  i.  pp.  17-3-194.     The  legends  of  Orpheus  charming  hell,  Arion  appeasing 
the  waves,  and  Amphion  moving  the  stones  by  music,  as  well  as  '  the  musir 
of  the  spheres '  of  Pythagoras,  will  occur  to  every  one. 

3  Called  originally  '  discanttis.'     The  exact  date  of  its  invention  is  a  mat- 
ter of  great  controversy.     It  is  said  to  have  been  suggested  by  the  varied 
tones  of  the  organ. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  uOl 

first  appeared  in  the  services  of  the  Church.  From  a  very 
early  period  music  had  been  employed  to  enhance  the  effect 
of  the  sacred  plays,  and  as  it  continued  to  occupy  the  same 
position  when  the  drama  had  been  secularised,  St.  Philip 
Xeri,  in  1540,  in  order  to  counteract  the  new  attraction, 
originated  at  Rome  the  oratorio.  About  twenty  years  later, 
Palestrina,  a  chaplain  of  the  Vatican,  reformed  the  whole 
system  of  Church  music.  These  exertions  would  perhaps 
have  retained  for  it  something  at  least  of  its  ancient  ascend- 
ency, but  for  the  invention  in  1600  of  recitative,  which,  by 
rendering  possible  complete  musical  dramas,  immediately 
created  the  opera,  withdrew  the  sceptre  of  music  from  the 
Church,  and  profoundly  altered  the  prevailing  taste.  From 
this  time  the  star  of  St.  Cecilia  began  to  wane,  and  that  of 
Apollo  to  shine  anew.  Those  'Lydian  and  Ionic  strains' 
which  Plato  so  jealously  excluded  from  his  republic,  and 
which  Milton  so  keenly  appreciated,  were  heard  again,  and 
all  Italy  thrilled  with  passion  beneath  their  power.  Venice 
especially  found  in  them  the  most  faithful  expression  of  her 
character,  and  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifty  different 
operas  were  represented  there  between  103 7  and  1080.  In 
France  the  opera  was  introduced  at  the  desire  of  Cardinal 
Mazarin ;  and  it  is  remarkable  that  Pen-in,  who  wrote  the 
first  French  operas,  was  a  priest;  that  Cambert,  who  assisted 
him  in  composing  the  music,  was  a  church  organist ;  and 
that  nearly  all  the  first  actors  had  been  choristers  in  the  ca- 
thedrals. From  this  time  the  best  singers  began  to  desert 
tho  churches  for  the  theatre.  In  England  the  musical  dramas 
known  under  the  name  of  masques  elicited  some  of  the 
noblest  poetry  of  ]>en  Jonson  and  of  Milton.1 


302  RATION ALISM   IN"   EUROPE. 

Another  way  in  which  the  Church  exercised,  I  think,  an 
indirect  influence  upon  the  stage,  is  not  quite  so  obvious  as 
the  preceding  one.  Whatever  opinion  may  be  held  on  the 
general  question  of  the  comparative  merits  of  the  classical 
and  the  Gothic  architecture,  it  is  at  least  certain  that  the 
latter  was  immeasurably  superior  in  suggesting  the  effects 
of  immense  distances — in  acting,  not  simply  on  the  taste,  but 
also  on  the  emotions,  by  a  skilful  employment  of  all  the 
means  of  illusion  which  an  admirable  sense  of  the  laws  of 
perspective  can  furnish.  The  Greek  temple  might  satisfy 
the  taste,  but  it  never  struck  any  chord  of  deeper  emotion, 
or  created  any  illusion,  or  suggested  any  conception  of  the 
Infinite.  The  eye  and  the  mind  soon  grasped  its  proportions, 
and  realised  the  full  measure  of  its  grandeur.  Very  different 
is  the  sentiment  produced  by  the  Gothic  cathedral,  with  its 
almost  endless  vistas  of  receding  arches,  with  its  high  altar 
rising  conspicuous  by  a  hundred  lights  amid  the  gloom  of 
the  painted  windows,  while  farther  and  farther  back  the  eye 
loses  itself  in  the  undefined  distance  amid  the  tracery  of  the 
gorgeous  chancel,  or  the  dim  columns  of  Our  Lady's  chapel. 
The  visible  there  leads  the  imagination  to  the  invisible.  The 
sense  of  finiteness  is  vanquished.  An  illusion  of  vastness  and 
awe  presses  irresistibly  on  the  mind.  And  this  illusion,  which 
the  architecture  and  the  obscurity  of  the  temple  produce,  has 
always  been  skilfully  sustained  in  Catholicism  by  ceremonies 
which  are  preeminently  calculated  to  act  upon  the  emotions 
through  the  eye. 

Xow  it  is  surely  a  remarkable  coincidence,  that  while 
Christian  architecture  is  thus  indisputably  superior  to  pagan 
architecture  in  creating  the  illusion  of  distance,  the  modern 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  303 

theatre  sliould  be  distinguished  by  precisely  the  same  supe- 
riority from  the  ancient  one.  A  fundamental  rule  of  the 
modern  theatre  is,  that  the  stage  should  be  at  least  twice  as 
deep  as  it  is  broad.  In  the  theatres  of  antiquity,  the  stage 
was  five  or  six  times  as  broad  as  it  was  deep.1  It  resembled 
the  portion  which  is  now  exhibited  when  the  curtain  is  down. 
The  wall  that  closed  it  in,  instead  of  being  concealed,  was 
brought  prominently  before  the  spectator  by  rich  sculptures, 
and  illusion  was  neither  sought  nor  obtained.  In  the  modern 
theatre,  our  present  system  of  decoration  only  advanced  by 
plow  degrees  from  the  rude  representations  of  heaven  and 
hell,  that  were  exhibited  in  the  mysteries,  to  the  elaborate 
scenery  of  our  own  day;  but  still  the  constant  progress  in 
this  direction  exhibits  a  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  spec- 
tacle, which  is  essentially  different  from  that  of  the  Greeks, 
and  is  probably  in  a  great  measure  due  to  the  influence  of 
ecclesiastical  ceremonies  upon  the  taste. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  the  cause  of  the  favour 
which  Leo  and  his  contemporaries  manifested  to  the  theatre. 
They  belonged  to  a  generation  of  ecclesiastics  who  were  far 
removed  from  the  austere  traditions  of  the  Church,  who  had 
thrown  themselves  cordially  into  all  the  new  tastes  that  lux- 
ury and  revived  learning  had  produced,  and  who  shrank  with 
an  undisguised  aversion  from  all  religious  enthusiasm,  from 
all  intolerance  of  the  beautiful.  Their  lives  were  one  long 
dream  of  art  and  poetry.  Their  imaginations,  matured  and 
disciplined  by  constant  study  of  the  noblest  works  of  Grecian 
genius,  cast  a  new  colouring  upon  their  profession,  and 

The  stage  of  Orange,  wlik-li  is  probably  the  most  perfect  Roman  theatre 
ir.  existence,  is  GtJ  yards  broad  and  1-  drop.  (See  Yitet's  Eas<iy  en  (he  Anti- 
quities of  Orange,  in  his  Mu'Im  xitr  VHixtoire  d'Art.)  The  length  of  the 
stage  of  Ilereulaneum  is  greater  than  that  of  San  Carle  at  Xapks,  but  its 
deptli  is  only  a  few  feet. 


304:  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOPE. 

adorned  with  a  pagan  beauty  every  creation  of  the  Church. 
Such  men  as  these  were  but  little  likely  to  repress  the  intel- 
lectual passion  that  arose  almost  simultaneously  in  Italy, 
France,  and  Spain,1  and  created  the  modern  theatre.  But 
when  the  teaching  of  Luther  had  thrilled  through  Europe,  a 
new  spirit  was  infused  into  the  Vatican.  The  intellectualist 
and  the  art  critic  were  replaced  by  men  of  saintly  lives  but 
of  persecuting  zeal,  and  a  fierce  contest  between  the  Church 
and  the  theatre  began,  which  continued  till  near  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  ended  in  the  complete  victory  of 
the  latter. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Church  on  this  subject  was  clear  and 
decisive.  The  theatre  was  unequivocally  condemned,  and 
all  professional  actors  were  pronounced  to  be  in  a  condition 
of  mortal  sin,  and  were,  therefore,  doomed,  if  they  died  in 
their  profession,  to  eternal  perdition.2  This  frightful  propo- 
sition was  enunciated  with  the  most  emphatic  clearness  by 
countless  bishops  and  theologians,  and  was  even  embodied 
in  the  canon  law  and  the  rituals  of  many  dioceses.3  The 
liitual  of  Paris,  with  several  others,  distinctly  pronounced 

1  The  Spanish  theatre  very  early  rose  to  perfection,  and,  after  1600, 
Spanish  tragicomedies  soon  became  dominant,  even  in  Italy.  (See  Riccoboni's 
history  of  the  movement ;  and  Bouterwek's  Hist,  of  Spanish  Literature.) 
In  this  review  I  have  not  entered  into  an  examination  of  the  English  theatre, 
for  two  reasons :  first,  because  its  growth  was  almost  entirely  isolated, 
while  the  dramatic  literatures  of  Italy,  Spain,  and  France  were  closely  con- 
nected ;  and,  secondly,  because  my  present  object  is  to  trace  the  relations  of 
Catholicism  and  the  drama. 

"  The  following  was  the  decision  of  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne  in  1G94: 
'  Les  comedicns,  par  leur  profession  commc  elle  s'cxercise,  sont  en  etat  de 
peche  moi'tel.' — J)i'-f.  '/r.s  Cos  <lc  Conscience,  de  Lamct  et  Fromageau,  torn.  i. 
p.  803. 

3  Sec  an  immense  mass  of  evidence  of  this  collected  in  Desprez  de 
Roissy,  Let!  rex  (•>')•  /».<  Spectacles  (1*1  Sty ;  Lebrun,  Dk'-ours  wr  la  Comidie  • 
Toncina,  DC  Spcctacvlis. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM  OUO 

that  actors  were  by  their  very  employment  necessarily  ex- 
communicated.1 This  was  the  sentence  of  the  Church  upon 
those  whose  lives  were  spent  in  adding  to  the  sum  of  human 
enjoyments,  in  scattering  the  clouds  of  despondency,  and 
charming  away  the  weariness  of  the  jaded  mind.  Xone  can 
tell  how  many  hearts  it  has  wrung  with  anguish,  or  how 
many  noble  natures  it  has  plunged  into  the  depths  of  vice. 
As  a  necessary  consequence  of  this  teaching,  the  sacraments 
were  denied  to  actors  who  refused  to  repudiate  their  profes- 
sion, and,  in  France  at  least,  their  burial  was  as  the  burial  of 
a  dog.3  Among  those  who  were  thus  refused  a  place  in  con 
secratcd  ground  was  the  beautiful  and  gifted  Le  Couvreur, 
who  had  been  perhaps  the  brightest  ornament  of  the  French 
stage.  She  died  without  having  abjured  the  profession  she 
had  adorned,  and  she  was  buried  in  a  field  for  cattle  upon 
the  banks  of  the  Seine.  An  ode  by  Voltaire,  burning  with 
the  deep  fire  of  an  indignant  pathos,  has  at  once  avenged  and 
consecrated  her  memory. 

1  'Arccndi  [a  sacra  communione]  simt  publiee  indigni,  qualcs  sunt  excorn- 
intmicati,  interdict!,  manifesto  infames  ut  meretricos,  concubinarii,  comtudi.' 
(Quoted  by  Concilia,  DC  Spcctacuiis,  p.  ^2.  See  also  Lebrttn,  Discours,  p. 
o-i.)  Sonic  theologian?,  in  order  to  reconcile  their  sentiments  with  the  pas- 
sage from  St.  Thomas  that  I  have  quoted,  said  that  it  was  actors  of  immoral 
pieces  that  were  excommunicated,  but  they  added  that  the  condition  of  the 
theatre  vras  such  that  all  actors  fell  under  the  censure.  Moliere  was  regarded 
as  peculiarly  and  preeminently  bad.  Kacine  was  far  from  innocuous ;  and 
Dossuet  distinctly  maintained  that  any  piece  was  immoral  which  contained  a 
representation  of  love,  however  legitimate  its  character.  'vSee  his  R'/cxioni 
fur  la  Comedie.") 

'*  'L'Kglisc  condamnc  les  eomediens,  et  croit  par-l;\  defendre  assez  la 
comedie:  la  decision  en  cst  precise  dans  Irs  Kituels  (Jiit.  <le  Paris,  pp.  U>8- 
11-1),  la  pratique  en  est  constante.  On  prive  des  sacremens  et  a  la  vie  et  ;\ 
i:i  mort  coux  qui  joucnt  la  comedie  s'ils  no  renoncrnt  a  leur  art;  on  les  pa.-S'j 
a  la  sainte  talile  coinme  des  pecheurs  jrablics  ;  on  les  exclut  des  ordres  saci'e.-j 
comme  des  pcrsonnes  intanie.- ;  par  uno  suite  infaillible,  la  .sepulture  eccleii 
astique  leui  est  deniee.' — lio.-sm-t,  R<'f.i  -xiuiis  aur  la  Cui/itJii;  £  xi. 


30fi  NATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

It  is  hard  for  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  habits 
of  modern  Roman  Catholic  countries  to  realise  the  intense 
bitterness  which  theologians  of  the  seventeenth  and  eio-h- 

o  o 

teenth  centuries  manifested  towards  the  theatre.  Molierc, 
whose  plays  were  continually  cited  as  among  the  most  signal 
Instances  of  its  depravity,  was  the  object  of  especial  denun- 
ciation, and  when  he  died  it  was  only  with  extreme  difficulty 
that  permission  could  be  obtained  to  bury  him  in  consecrated 
ground.1  The  religious  mind  of  Racine  recoiled  before  the 
censure.  lie  ceased  to  write  for  the  stage  when  in  the  zenith 
of  his  powers,  and  an  extraordinary  epitaph,  while  recording 
his  virtues,  acknowledges  that  there  was  one  stain  upon  his 
memory — he  had  been  a  dramatic  poet.2  In  1696,  and  again 
in  1701,  on  the  occasion  of  the  jubilee,  the  actors  entreated 
the  pope  to  relieve  them  from  the  censures  of  the  canon  law, 
but  their  request  was  unavailing;  and  when,  upon  the  recov- 
ery of  Louis  XIV.  from  a  serious  illness,  every  other  corpora- 
tion at  Paris  offered  up  a  Te  Deum,  they  were  especially  ex- 
cluded.8 At  least  one  archbishop  distinctly  prohibited  his 
clergy  from  marrying  them;4  and  when  a  lawyer,  named 

1  Lel>run  relates  this  with  much  exultation.  Speaking  of  Moliere  ho 
says :  '  Co  qui  cst  constant,  c'est  quo  sa  mort  est  unc  morale  terrible  pour 
tons  ses  confreres,  et  pour  tons  ccux  qui  nc  ehcrchent  qu';\  rire — un  pen  do 
terrc  obtenu  par  priere,  c'est  tout  ce  qn'il  a  de  1'Kglise,  et  encore  fallut-il 
bicn  protester  qu'il  avoit  donne  des  marques  de  repentir.  Kosimoncl  etant 
mort  subitement  en  1691,  fut  enterre  sans  clergc,  sans  lumierc,  ct  sans 
nueiine  priere,  dans  un  cndroit  du  eimetiere  de  St.  Pulpice  ou  Ton  met  los 
eiifans  marts  sans  bapteme.'  (TJiscwrs  wr  la  Conit.dic,  cd.  1781,  p.  250.) 

-  This  marvellous  production  is  given  in  full  by  Despre/  de  Boissy,  torn 
.  pp.  Gl|i-.">1-j.  Its  author  was  named  Tronehon. 

3  J ?,;<!.  p.  1-21. 

4  The  Archbishop  of  Paris.     This  refusal  was  of  course  comprised  in  the 
ecnoral   rule,    that   actors   as   excommunicated  persons  should   be   excluded 
tVom  the  sacraments  ( Der-prez  de   Hoissy,   torn.   i.   p. -117).     And  yet  these 
priesu  had   the  audacity  to  reproach  actors   with   their  immorality!      The 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  307 

Huerne  de  la  Mothe,  ventured,  in  1761,  to  denounce  this  act 
as  a  scandal,  and  to  defend  the  profession  of  an  actor,  hia 
work  Avas  burned  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner,  and  his 
name  erased  from  the  list  of  advocates.1  Lulli,  the  first  great 
musical  composer  of  France,  could  only  obtain  absolution  by 
burning  an  opera  he  had  just  composed.2 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  this  the  theatre  steadily  advanced,  and 
as  the  opposition  was  absolute  and  unequivocal  its  progress 
was  a  measure  of  the  defeat  of  the  Church.  In  France,  al- 
though the  law  pronounced  actors  infamous,  and  consequent- 
ly excluded  them  from  every  form  of  public  honour  and  em- 
ployment, and  although  till  far  into  the  eighteenth  century 
custom  prohibited  those  who  occupied  any  magisterial  ap- 
pointment from  attending  the  theatre,  the  drama  retained  an 
undiminished  popularity.  In  Spain  it  appears  to  have  se- 
cured a  certain  measure  of  toleration  by  throwing  itself  into 
the  arms  of  the  Church.  Caldcron  infused  into  it  the  very 
spirit  of  the  Inquisition.  The  sacred  plays  continued  after 
they  had  been  abolished  in  almost  every  other  country;  and 
although  Mariana  and  some  other  leading  theologians  de- 
nounced all  dramatic  entertainments,  they  were  unable  to 
procure  their  final  suppression.8  The  opera,  it  is  true,  was 


Council  of  Illibcris,  one  of  the  oldest  on  record,  prohibited  any  Christian 
woman  from  marrying  an  actor.  (Lebrim,  Discours,  p.  157.) 

1  Sec  the  curious  Arret  du  Parlement,  in  I)esprez  de  Hoissy,  torn.  i.  pp. 
473-481. 

a   Huuarth,  J.r, mnn-s  »f  1h<-  Opera,  p.  2s. 

3  Philip  II.,  however,  and  Philip  IV.  banished  all  actors  from  Spain 
(Boissy,  Littns  sur  Its  £ji?'-f(i<-!<x,  torn.  i.  pp.  -Is'!,  18 1) ;  and  the  venerable 
and  miracle-working  Father  Posadas,  at  a  later  period,  eau-ed  the  aestr.c- 
tion  (if  the  theatre  of  Cordova  (Cuncina,  DC  ^>cct.  p.  17-<).  On  the  of  lit 
*o  which  actors  laboured  to  win  the  favour  of  the  Chr.ivh  bv  relidous  playa 
and  by  singing  at  the  Church  fc.-tivals,  see  ihe  indignant  reiaark?  c.i  Mari-ma, 
DC  Etije,  pp.  -106-1  U'. 


308  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

somewhat  severely  treated,  for  some  divines  having  ascribe*! 
to  it  a  period  of  pestilence  and  of  drought,  it  was  for  a  time 
abolished;1  but  it  at  last  secured  its  position  in  Spain.  The 
Italians  at  all  times  thronged  the  theatre  with  delight.  Even 

o  o 

the  Romans  exhibited  such  a  marked  passion  for  this  form  of 
amusement,  that  the  popes  were  obliged  to  yield.  At  first 
dramatic  entertainments  were  only  permitted  at  Rome  during 
the  carnival,  and  Benedict  XIV.,  while  according  this  per- 
mission, addressed  a  pastoral  to  the  bishops  of  his  kingdom 
to  assure  them  that  he  did  it  with  extreme  reluctance  to 
avoid  greater  evils,  and  that  this  permission  was  not  to  be 
construed  as  an  approval.2  Gradually,  however,  these 
amusements  were  extended  to  other  seasons  of  the  year;  and 
even  the  opera,  in  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  the  people,  was 
introduced.  At  last,  in  1C 71,  a  public  opera-house  was  built 
at  Rome ;  but  female  performers  were  long  strictly  prohibit- 
ed, and  their  places  supplied  by  eunuchs — an  unfortunate 
race,  which  came  in  consequence  into  great  request  in  the 
Holy  City.3 

The   man  who   did   more   than   any  other   to  remove  the 

1  Buckle,  //«'.,  vol.  i.  p.  317,  note.  In  the  same  way,  Lebrun  ascribes 
the  earthquakes  that  desolated  ancient  Antioch  to  the  passion  of  the  inhab- 
itants for  the  theatre  (fJtxcows,  pp.  132,  133).  The  English  bishops,  in 
l.j(»3,  attributed  the  plague  to  the  theatres  (Froude's  7//X.,  vol.  vii.  p.  519). 

*  See  an  energetic  extract  which  Concina  has  prefixed  to  his  book.  Some 
of  the  cardinals,  however,  were  less  severe,  and  in  the  first  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  the  musical  parties  of  the  Cardinal  Uarljcrini  were  very  fa- 
mous. It  was  probably  there,  and  certainly  at  Koine,  that  Milton  met  Leonora 
Baroni,  who  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  long  line  of  great  Italian  opera 
singers,  and  to  whom  he,  with  a  very  unpuritanical  gallantry,  addressed  three 
L:itia  poem.-  (Hogarth,  Mem'ii.rs  of  /he  Oj>era,  pp.  17,  ISj.  The-e  carnival 
;ir,Miias  exirit".!  th".  great  indignation  of  the  Calvini>t  iJalla-ns  (Concilia,  pp. 
302,  Cr>:Hj.  The  Italians  do  not  seem  to  have  been  so  violent  against  the 
theatre  as  the  French  priests,  though  De  Boissy  has  collected  a  rather  long 
i.-t  f'f  condemnations. 

L  Desprez  de  Boi.^y,  torn.  ii.  pp.  '2'>  1-236. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  309 

stigrna  that  rested  upon  actors,  was  unquestionably  Voltaire. 
There  is,  indeed,  something  singularly  noble  in  the  untiring 
zeal  with  which  he  directed  poetry  and  eloquence,  the  keen- 
est wit  and  the  closest  reasoning,  to  the  defence  of  those  who 
had  so  long  been  friendless  and  despised.  He  cast  over  them 
the  rcgis  of  his  own  mighty  name,  and  the  result  of  his 
advocacy  was  shown  in  the  enactment  by  which  the  French 
Revolutionists,  at  a  single  stroke,  removed  all  the  disquali- 
fications under  which  they  laboured.  The  position  acton* 
have  since  conquered  in  almost  every  country,  and  the  extent 
to  which  the  theatre  has  become  a  recognised  institution, 
must  be  manifest  to  every  one.  Among  the  many  illustra- 
tions of  the  impotence  of  modern  ecclesiastical  efforts  to 
arrest  the  natural  current  of  society,  there  arc  few  move 
curious  than  is  furnished  on  the  opening  night  of  the  Roman 
theatre,  when  the  cardinal-governor  of  Rome  appears,  as  the 
representative  of  the  pope,  to  sanction  the  entertainment  by 
his  presence,  to  listen  to  the  sweet  songs  of  the  opera  sung 
by  female  singers,  and  to  watch  the  wreathings  of  the  dance. 
I  trust  the  reader  will  pardon  the  great  length  to  which 
this  disquisition  on  the  drama  has  extended.  It  is  not  alto- 
gether of  the  nature  of  a  digression,  because,  although  an 
institution  like  the  theatre  cannot  be  regarded  as  entirely  the 
creation  of  any  one  nation,  it  certainly  owes  its  lirst  impulse 
and  some  of  its  leading  characteristics  to  that  union  of  an 
industrial  and  intellectual  civilisation  which  attained  its 
culmination  under  the  Medici.  Xor  is  it  without  an  impor- 
tant bearing  on  the  subject  of  my  work,  because  the  succes- 
sive transformations  I  have  reviewed  furnish  one  of  the  mo-t 
striking  examples  of  that  process  of  gradual  secularisation 
which,  under  the  iniluence  of  the  rationalistic  spirit,  is  di>- 
played  in  turn  in  each  department  of  thought  an<1  action 


310  RATIONALISM   IN    ErBOPE. 

Besides  this,  there  are  few  more  powerfully  destructive 
agents  than  customs  or  institutions,  no  matter  how  little 
aggressive,  which  a  Church  claiming  supreme  authority  en- 
deavours to  suppress,  and  which  have  nevertheless  secured 
their  position  in  the  world.  By  the  simple  fact  of  their 
txistence,  they  at  first  divide  the  allegiance  of  mankind,  ami 
at  last  render  obsolete  a  certain  portion  of  ecclesiastical 
teaching,  and  thereby  impart  a  character  of  mobility  and 
flexibility  to  the  whole.  In  this  respect  Protestantism  has 
been  far  less  affected  by  the  change  than  her  rival,  for  Prot- 
estantism does  not  claim  the  same  coercive  authority,  and 
can,  therefore,  in  a  measure  assimilate  with  the  developments 
of  society,  and  purify  and  temper  when  it  cannot  altogether 
control.  It  must  be  acknowledged  also,  that  while  the 
Calvinistic  section  of  the  Reformed  Churches  has  ever  dis- 
played a  bigotry  on  the  subject  of  amusements,  which  is  at 
least  ecpaal  to  that  of  the  Church  of  Rome,1  Anglicanism  has 
always  been  singularly  free  from  the  taint  of  fanaticism ; " 
nor  is  it,  I  believe,  too  much  to  add,  that  her  forbearance  has 
received  its  reward,  and  that,  if  we  except  the  period  of 
depravity  that  elapsed  between  the  Restoration  and  the 
publication  of  the  work  of  Jeremy  Collier  in  1698,  and  which 

1  On  the  decrees  of  the  French  Protestants  against  the  theatre,  see 
Lebrun,  p.  255.  Calvin  at  Geneva  was  equally  severe,  and  his  policy  long 
after  found  an  enthusiastic  defender  in  Rousseau.  In  England,  one  of  the 
most  atrocious  acts  of  tyranny  of  which  Charles  I.  was  guilty,  was  elicited 
ov  a  book  called  the  Histriomastix,  of  I'rynnc,  anil  one  of  the  iir=t  u  lieu  to  of 
;lie  triumph  of  the  Puritans  was  the  suppression  of  the  theatre. 

•  I  have  mentioned  the  way  in  which  Moliere,  Lulli,  and  Le  Couvreur 
xvcre  treated  in  France.  As  a  single  illustration  of  the  different  spirits  of 
Catholicism  and  Anglicanism,  I  may  mention  the  fate  of  their  English  paral- 
els — Shakespeare,  Lawes,  and  Mrs.  Oldfield.  Xo  murmur  of  controversy 
ever  disturbed  the  grave  of  Shakespeare,  and  the  great  poet  of  Puritanism 
sang  his  requiem.  J,awes  and  Mrs.  Oldfield  both  rest  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
to  which  the  latter  was  borne  with  almost  regal  pomp. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATK  NALISM.  311 

may  be  justly  ascribed  in  a  great  measure  to  the  reaction 
against  Puritanism,  the  English  theatre  has  been  that  in 
which  the  moralist  can  find  least  to  condemn. 

The  creation  of  the  secular  theatre  was  one  of  the  last 
results  of  the  industrial  supremacy  of  Italy.  A  succession  of 
causes,  into  which  it  is  not  now  necessary  to  enter,  had  cor 
roded  that  political  system,  to  which  the  world  is  so  deeply 
indebted  ;  and  the  discovery  of  the  passage  round  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  by  Gama,  and  of  America  by  Columbus,  to- 
gether with  some  other  causes,  directed  the  stream  of  com- 
merce in  new  channels.  By  the  time  when  the  effects  of 
these  discoveries  began  first  to  be  felt,  the  Reformation  had 
divided  Christendom  into  two  opposing  sections,  and  the 
important  question  arose,  to  which  of  these  sections  the 
sceptre  of  industry  would  fall. 

It  must,  I  think,  be  acknowledged,  that  to  a  spectator  of 
the  sixteenth  century  no  proposition  could  seem  more  clear 
than  that  the  commercial  supremacy  of  Europe  was  destined 
to  be  exercised  by  Catholicism.  The  two  great  discoveries  I 
have  mentioned  had  both  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  intensely 
Catholic  nations  of  the  Spanish  peninsula.  Spain  especially 
exhibited  a  combination  of  advantages  which  it  would  be 
very  difficult  to  parallel  in  history.  Her  magnificent  colonies 
opened  out  a  boundless  prospect  of  wealth,  and  she  seemed 
to  possess  all  those  qualities  and  capacities  that  were  requi- 
site for  their  development.  The  nation  was  in  the  zenith 
of  its  power.  The  glories  of  Granada  still  rested  upon  it. 
Charles  V.  had  united  the  imperial  sceptre  with  that  of 
Spain,  had  organised  a  vast  navy,  had  constituted  himself 
the  recognised  head  of  the  Catholic  interests,  had  humbled 
that  French  power  which  alone  could  imperil  his  ascendency, 
and  had  acquired  the  reputation  of  the  most  co 


312  RATIONALISM   EST   EUROPE. 

politician  of  the  age.  If  we  add  to  this,  that  the  passion  fci 
wealth  had  never  been  more  strongly  exhibited  than  by  the 
Spaniards,  it  would  seem  as  though  no  element  of  commer- 
cial greatness  was  wanting.  Reasoning  a  priori,  it  would 
appear  natural  to  conclude  that  Spain  was  about  to  embark 
hi  a  long  and  glorious  career  of  commerce,  that  she  would 
incline  the  balance  of  material  prosperity  decisively  to  the 
side  of  the  religion  of  which  she  was  the  champion,  but  that 
the  commercial  spirit  would  at  last  act  upon  and  modify  her 
religious  fanaticism. 

Xone  of  these  results  followed.  Although  for  a  fe\v  years 
the  Spanish  Catholics  were  the  arbiters  and  the  directors  of 
commerce,  and  although  the  eifects  of  their  ascendency  have 
not  even  yet  passed  away,  the  prosperity  of  Spain  was 
speedily  eclipsed.  At  a  time  when  she  seemed  on  the  high- 
way to  an  almost  boundless  wealth,  she  sank  into  the  most 
abject  poverty.  Her  glory  was  withered,  her  power  was 
shattered,  her  fanaticism  alone  remained. 

There  are  several  considerations  that  explain  this  apparent 
anomaly.  The  first  is,  I  think,  to  be  found  in  the  erroneous 
economical  doctrine  which  became  the  mainspring  of  Spanish 
legislation. 

Although  it  would  undoubtedly  be  a  gross  exaggeration 
to  regard  the  Italian  republics  as  having  arrived  at  the 
knowledge  of  the  true  laws  that  govern  wealth,  there  can 
lx>  no  question  that  their  policy  was  far  more  in  conformity 
with  the  principles  of  political  economy  than  that  of  any  of 
i  heir  successors  till  after  the  time  of  Quesnay  and  Smith. 
The  exquisite  practical  skill  they  possessed,  and  also  the  pe- 
culiarity of  their  position,  which  made  most  of  them  entirely 
dependent  upon  commerce,  and  consequently  the  natural  ene- 
mies of  protective  privileges,  saved  them  from  the  worst 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OB    RATIONALISM.  313 

egislative  errors  of  the  age  ;  and,  indeed,  it  lias  been  the  just 
boast  of  Italian  economists,  that,  if  we  except  Se'rra,  Geuo- 
vesi,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  others,  even  their  speculative 
writers  have  always  been  singularly  free  from  the  errors  of  that 
mercantile  system'  which  in  other  countries  was  so  long  su- 
preme. It  was  not  until  Spain  had  risen  to  power,  and  the 
stream  of  American  gold  had  begun  to  inundate  Europe, 
that  the  doctrine  upon  which  that  fatal  system  rests  became 
tbe  centre  of  commercial  legislation. 

To  state  this  doctrine  in  the  simplest  form,  it  was  believed 
that  all  wealth  consisted  of  the  precious  metals,  and  that 
therefore  a  country  was  necessarily  impoverished  by  every 
transaction  which  diminished  its  metallic  riches,  no  matter 
how  much  it  may  have  added  to  its  other  possessions.  If. 
therefore,  two  nations  exchanged  their  commodities  with 
a  view  of  increasing  their  wealth,  the  single  object  of  eacli 
was  to  regulate  the  transaction  in  such  a  manner  that  it 
might  obtain  a  larger  amount  of  money  than  it  before  pos- 
sessed, or,  in  other  words,  that  the  value  of  its  non-metallic 
exports  should  be  greater  than  of  its  imports.  But  as  the 
excess  of  exports  over  imports  on  one  side  implied  a  cor- 
responding excess  of  imports  over  exports  on  the  other,  it 
followed  that  the  interests  of  the  two  nations  were  diametri- 
cally opposed,  that  the  loss  of  one  was  the  condition  and 
measure  of  the  gain  of  the  other,  and  that  to  the  nation 
which  was  unable  to  incline  what  was  termed  the  'balance 
of  commerce'  in  its  favour,  the  entire  transaction  was  an 
•ivil.  It  followed  also  that  the  importance  of  native  produc- 
tions was  altogether  subordinate  to  that  of  the  export  or  im- 
port of  gold. 

From  these  principles  three  important  practical  conse- 
3'iences  were  drawn  which  contributed  greatly  to  the  down 


314:  RATIONALISM   IN    ETJROPE. 

fall  of  Spain.  In  the  first  place,  the  whole  energy  both  oi 
the  government  and  people  was  concentrated  upon  the  gold 
mines,  and  manufactures  and  almost  all  forms  of  industry 
sank  into  neglect.  In  the  next  place,  the  colonies  were 
speedily  ruined  by  an  elaborate  system  of  commercial  re- 
gtrietions  and  monopolies,  devised  with  the  vain  hope  of  en- 
riching the  mother-country,  and  some  of  them  were  at 
length  goaded  into  successful  rebellion.  In  the  last  place, 
an  undue  amount  of  gold  was  introduced  into  Spain,  which 
had  the  very  natural,  but,  to  the  Spaniards,  the  very  aston- 
ishing effect  of  convulsing  the  whole  financial  system  of  the 
country.  For  the  value  of  gold,  like  the  value  of  other  com- 
modities, is  governed  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand ; 
and  the  fact  that  this  metal  has  been  selected  as  the  general 
instrument  of  exchange,  while  it  makes  any  sudden  alteration 
in  its  value  peculiarly  dangerous,  does  not  in  any  degree  re- 
move it  from  the  law.  When  it  suddenly  becomes  too  com- 
mon, its  value — that  is  to  say,  its  purchasing  power — is  de- 
preciated ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  price  of  all  other  articles 
is  raised.  After  a  time  things  adjust  themselves  to  the  new 
standard,  and  many  political  economists,  considering  the 
sudden  stimulus  that  is  given  to  industry,  the  particular  class 
of  enterprises  the  change  in  the  value  of  money  specially 
favours,  and  still  more  its  effect  in  lightening  the  pressure  of 
national  debts,  have  regarded  it  as  ultimately  a  benefit;  but, 
at  all  events,  the  confusion,  insecurity,  and  uncertainty  of  the 
transition  constitute  a  grave  danger  to  the  community,  and 
the  loss  inflicted  on  certain  classes'  is  extremely  serious.  In 
our  own  day,  although  the  influx  of  Australian  and  Califur- 
man  gold  lias  told  very  sensibly  upon  prices,  the  immense 
ire  a  of  enterprise  over  which  it  has  been  diffused,  the  conn 

1  Those  who  iliroctly  or  in<lirectly  <lepen<l  upon  fixed  incomes. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  315 

teracting  influence  of  machinery  in  cheapening  commodoties, 
and  also  a  few  exceptional  causes  of  demand,1  have  mate- 
rially deadened  the  shock.  But  the  stream  of  gold  that  was 
directed  to  Spain  after  the  discovery  of  America  produced 
nearly  the  full  measure  of  evil,  while  the  economical  error 
of  the  age  deprived  the  Spaniards  of  nearly  all  the  good 
that  might  have  been  expected.  The  temporary  evil  of" 
a  violent  change  in  prices  could  only  have  been  abated, 
and  the  permanent  evil  of  the  decay  of  national  industry 
could  only  have  been  in  some  degree  compensated,  by  the 
free  employment  of  American  gold  to  purchase  the  industry 
of  foreign  nations ;  but  tin's  would  involve  the  export  of  the 
precious  metal,  which  the  government  under  the  severest 
penalties  prohibited.  It  is  true  that,  as  no  prohibition  can 
finally  arrest  the  natural  flow  of  affairs,  the  gold  did  issue 
forth,3  but  it  ^>  as  in  the  manner  that  was  least  advantageous 
to  Spain.  Cnarles  V.  and  Philip  II.  employed  it  in  their 
wars;  but  wars  are  almost  always  detrimental  to  industry ; 
many  of  these  were  disastrous  in  their  conclusions,  and  those 
of  Charles  were  undertaken  much  more  in  the  interests  ot 
the  empire  than  of  Spain,  while  Philip  sacrificed  every  othei 
consideration  to  the  advantage  of  the  Church.  The  only 
other  mode  of  egress  was  by  infringing  the  law.  After  a 

1  According-  to  Chevallier  (whose  book  on  this  subject  Las  boon  translated 
JUH!  endorsed  by  Mr.  Cobden),  the  adoption  of  a  gold  standard  by  France  is 
i !ic  principal. 

'J  The  famous  sermon  of  Bishop  Latimer,  describing  the  revolution  r.l 
[.Tees  in  England,  was  preached  as  early  as  l.j-18,  only  twenty-seven  vcai? 
•it'ier  the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and  at  a  time  when  the  groat  mines  of  Potoi 
(winch  were  only  discovered  in  1.1  to)  could  scarcely  have  had  any  effect  upon 
Europe.  The  most  striking  evidence  of  the  perturbation  of  prices  in  Eng- 
land in  the  sixteenth  century  is  given  in  'A  Cwnpendhtt-s  or  Jlr'n'-ff  E-tmnln'i- 
tion  of  Cfrfayne  Ordinary  Complaints  of  <l'vers  of  onr  Countrymen,  ?>y  Tf~ 
£'  Li-ftbably  William  Stafford],  loSl.  The  greater  part  of  this  curious 
pamphlet  has  been  reprinted  in  the  tilth  volume  of  the  Pa;,,p]t!.t»:r  (181o>. 


316  RATIONALISM   IN   EUKOPE. 

few  years,  the  full  effects  of  this  policy *  were  manifested. 
Manufactures  had  languished.  Prices  were  immensely  raised. 
Confusion  and  insecurity  characterised  every  financial  under- 
taking. The  Spaniards,  to  adopt  the  image  of  a  great  po- 
litical economist,  realising  the  curse  of  Midas,  found  all  the 
necessaries  of  life  transmuted  into  gold,  while,  to  crown  all, 
the  government  prohibited  its  export  under  pain  of  death. 

These  economical  causes  will  help  to  show  why  it  was 
that  the  material  prosperity  of  the  great  Catholic  power 
was  so  transient,  and  also  why  no  strong  industrial  spirit 
was  evoked  to  counteract  the  prevailing  fanaticism.  This 
last  fact  will  be  still  further  elucidated,  if  we  consider  the 
social  and  religious  institutions  which  Spanish  Catholicity 
encouraged.  The  monasteries,  in  numbers  and  wealth,  had 
reached  a  point  that  had  scarcely  ever  been  equalled ;  and 
besides  subtracting  many  thousand  men  and  a  vast  amount 
of  wealth  from  the  productive  resources  of  the  country,  they 
produced  habits  of  mind  that  are  altogether  incompatible 
with  industry.  The  spirit  that  makes  men  devote  themselves 
in  vast  numbers  to  a  monotonous  life  of  asceticism  and  pov- 
erty is  so  essentially  opposed  to  the  spirit  that  creates  the 
energy  and  enthusiasm  of  industry,  that  their  continued  co- 
evistence  may  be  regarded  as  impossible.  Besides  this,  that 
aristocratic  system  which  harmonises  so  well  with  a  theo- 
logical society  revived.  A  warlike  and  idle  nobility  took 


1  Aggravated  to  a  certain  extent  by  the  dishonest  tampering  with  Hie 
.'.oinagc,  in  which  Charles  V.,  like  most  of  the  sovereigns  of  the  time,  in- 
jtlged.  The  chief  results  of  this  are,  first,  that  the  good  coins  are  driven 
out  of  circulation,  as  men  naturally  prefer  giving  the  smallest  value  possible 
for  what  they  purchase  ;  secondly,  nominal  prices  arc  raised  as  the  intrinsic 
value  of  coins  is  depreciated  ;  thirdly,  all  the  evils  of  uncertainty,  panic,  and 
suffering  inflicted  upon  creditors  and  persons  with  fixed  incomes  are  pr<» 
duced. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTOKY    OF    EA1IONALISM  317 

the  place  of  the  old  merchant  nobles  of  Italy,  and  a  stigma 
was  iu  consequence  attached  to  labour,1  which  was  still  fur- 
ther increased  by  the  revival  of  slavery. 

The  resurrection  of  this  last  institution  is  usually  ascribed 
to  Las  Casas,  the  only  really  eminent  philanthropist  Spain 
ever  produced.  In  this  statement  there  is,  however,  son  it1 
exaggeration.  Las  Casas  only  landed  in  America  in  1513, 
and  he  does  not  appear  to  have  taken  any  step  on  the  sub- 
ject of  slavery  till  some  years  later ;  but  negroes  had  been 
employed  as  slaves  by  the  Portuguese  in  their  colonies  in 
the  very  beginning  of  the  century,2  and  a  certain  number 
were  introduced  into  the  Spanish  colonies  as  early  as  loll. 
They  do  not,  however,  appear  to  have  been  fully  recognised 
by  the  government,  and  further  imports  were  discouraged 
till  1516,  when  the  monks  of  St.  Jerome,  who  then  adminis- 
tered affairs  in  the  West  Indies,  recommended  their  employ- 
ment. In  the  following  year,  Las  Casas  pronounced  ener- 
getically iu  the  same  sense.  Strange  as  it  may  now  appear, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  doing  so  he  was  actuated  by 
the  purest  benevolence.  Perceiving  that  the  wretched  In- 
dians, to  whose  service  he  had  devoted  his  life,  perished  by 
thousands  beneath  the  hard  labour  of  the  mines,  while  the 
negroes  employed  by  the  Portuguese  bore  the  fatigue  with- 
out the  slightest  injury,  he  imagined  that  by  introducing  the 
latter  he  was  performing  an  act  of  undoubted  philanthropy; 
and  thus  it  came  to  pass,  that  one  whose  character  presents 

*  i^ce  Blanqui,  Hist,  d' Economic  r«lil!.qvr,  toin.  i.  pp.  '271-281,  where  the 
whole  subject  of  the  political  economy  of  Charles  V.  is  admirably  treated. 

3  The  beginning  of  the  trade  dates  from  1410,  in  which  year  some  1'ortu 
guese  merchants,  having  kidnapped  some  Moors  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  only 
consented  to  ransom  them  on  receiving  negroes  in  exchange.  (MTherson's 
An/tak  of  Cotttixercc,  vol.  i.  p.  fiijl,) 


318  RATIONALISM   IX   EL'KOPE. 

an  almost  ideal  type  of  beneficence  became  a  leading  pro- 
moter of  negro  slavery.1 

The  traffic  once  organised,  and  encouraged  by  the  govern- 
ment, spread  rapidly.  Its  monopoly  was  granted  to  the 
Belgians,  who  sold  it  to  the  Genoese;  but  merchants  of 
Venice,  Barcelona,  and  England  had  all  an  early  share  in  the 
adventure.  The  first  Englishman  AV!  o  took  part  in  it  was  a 
certain  John  HaAvkins,  who  made  an  expedition  to  the 
African  coast  in  1562.2  Scarcely  any  one  seems  to  have 
regarded  the  trade  as  wrong.  Theologians  had  so  success- 
fully laboured  to  produce  a  sense  of  the  amazing,  I  might 
almost  say  generical,  difference  between  those  who  were 
Christians  and  those  who  were  not,  that-  to  apply  to  the 
latter  the  principles  that  were  applied  to  the  former,  would 
have  been  deemed  a  glaring  paradox.  If  the  condition  of 
the  negroes  in  this  world  was  altered  for  the  Averse,  it  was 

1  The  first  writer  who  undertook  the  defence  of  Las  Casas  was  Gregoire, 
Bishop  of  Blois,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  French  Institute  in  180-i,  and 
the  subject  was  afterwards  treated,  though  in  a  rather  different  point  of  view, 
in  a  letter  by  a  Mexican  priest  named  Don  Gregorio  Funes,  and  in  an  essay 
by  Llorente.  They  are  reprinted,  together  with  translations  of  all  the  rele- 
vant passages  from  Ilerrera  (the  original  authority  on  the  subject),  in 
Llorente's  edition  of  the  works  of  Las  Cusas  (1*2:2).  The  first  of  these 
writers  attempted  to  impuirn  the  authority  of  Ilerrera,  but  for  this  there 
seems  no  sufficient  reason;  nor  does  it  appear  that  Ilerrera,  or  indeed  any- 
one else  at  the  time,  considered  the  conduct  of  Las  Casas  wrong.  Tho 
monks  of  St.  Jerome  are  ranch  more  r<'Sj;uii.-ible  for  the  introduction  01 
negroes  than  Las  Casas.  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  evidence  Llorente  has 
collected  without  feeling  that,  as  a  general  rule  (with  a  few  striking  excep- 
'.ioiis),  the  Spanish  clergy  laboured  earnestly  to  alleviate  the  condition  of  tiu; 
ia[.iive  Indians,  that  this  was  one  of  their  chief  reasons  in  advocating  the 
'inport  ot  iie'_rroes,  and  that  they  never  contemplated  the  horrors  that  soon 
Li'ew  out  of  the  trade.  It  should  be  added  that  the  Spanish  Dominican  S<)to 
,\ as  perhaps  the  firs:  man  who  unequivocally  condemned  that  trade. 

a  M'l'hers'iu's,  Ammh  <//'  (_'"n<incrc< ,  vol.  ii.  p.  0-JS.  At  a  much  later 
period,  in  Iti.y.i,  the  F.nglish  made  a  convention  with  Spain  to  supply  the 
V\  est  Indies  witli  slaves  from  Jamaica. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  319 

felt  that  their  prospects  in  the  next  were  greatly  improved. 
Besides,  it  was  remembered  that,  shortly  after  the  deluge, 
Ham  had  behaved  disrespectfully  to  his  drunken  father,  and 
it  was  believed  by  many  that  the  Almighty  had,  in  eon- 
sequence,  ordained  negro  slavery.  The  Spanish  were  not  in 
general  bad  masters.  On  the  contrary,  when  the  gold  fever 
iiad  begun  to  subside,  they  were  in  this  respect  distinguished 
lor  their  humanity ; '  and  their  laws  on  the  subject  still  present, 
in  some  points,  a  favourable  contrast  to  those  of  America; 
but  the  effect  of  slavery  upon  the  national  character  was  not 
the  less  great. 

Besides  these  considerations,  we  must  take  into  account 
the  great  acts  of  religious  intolerance  of  which  Spain  was 
guilty,  and  which  recoiled  with  fatal  effect  upon  her  indus- 
trial system.  Xever  did  a  people  verify  more  fully  the  great 
truth,  that  industry  and  fanaticism  are  deadly  iocs.  Four 
times  the  Spanish  nation  directed  all  its  energies  in  the  cause 
of  the  Church,  and  four  times  its  prosperity  received  a  Avoitnd 
from  which  it  has  never  recovered.  By  the  expulsion  of  the 
Jews,  Spi'in  was  deprived  of  all  her  greatest  linaneiers,  and 
of  almost  all  her  most  enterprising  merchants.  By  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Moors,  she  lost  her  best  agriculturists;  vast  plains 
were  left  uninhabited,  except  by  banditti,  and  sonic  of  the 
most  important  trades  were  paralysed  forever.  By  the  expe- 
dition of  the  Armada,  that  naval  supremacy  which,  since  the 
discoveries  of  the  Cape  passage  and  of  America  had  made 
commerce  exclusivelv  maritime,  implied  commercial  suprem- 
a  >y,  passed  from  .her  hands,  and  was  soon  divided  between 
llie  Protestant  nations  of  England  and  Holland.  By  her 
persecutions  in  the  Netherlands,  she  produced  a  spirit  of 

1  Thid   \v.vs  noticed    by   Bourn    in    hi-    tiui''.     Sue    Li    rt<'i>>/ 
(1577). 


320  RATIONALISM   IX   EUEOPE. 

resistance  that  Ibaffled  her  armies,  destroyed  her  prestige,  and 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  another  State,  distinguished 
alike  for  its  commercial  genius,  its  bravery,  and  its  Prot- 
estantism. 

There  were,  of  course,  other  circumstances  which  acceler- 
ated or  aggravated  the  downfall  of  Spain;  but  the  reaily 
dominating  causes  are  all,  I  think,  to  be  found  under  the 
economical  or  theological  heads  I  have  noticed.  It  is  well 
worthy  of  attention  how  they  conspired,  acting  and  reacting 
upon  one  another,  to  destroy  that  political  structure  which 
was  once  so  powerful,  and  which  appeared  to  possess  so 
many  elements  of  stability.  Xor  can  we  question  that  that 
destruction  was  an  almost  unmingled  benefit  to  mankind. 
Blind  folly,  ignoble  selfishness,  crushing  tyranny,  and  hideous 
cruelty,  mark  every  page  of  the  history  of  the  domination  of 
Spain,  whether  we  turn  to  the  Xew  World  or  to  the  Nether- 
lands, or  to  those  glorious  Italian  cities  which  she  blasted  by 
her  rule.  During  the  period  of  her  ascendency,  and  espe- 
cially during  the  reigns  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.,  who 
were  the  most  faithful  representatives  of  her  spirit,  she  was 
guilty  of  an  amount  of  persecution  before  which  all  the 
enormities  of  Ifoman  emperors  fade  into  insignificance.  She 
reorganised  the  accursed  iiirtitution  of  slavery  on  a  gigantic 
scale,  and  in  a  form  that  was  in  some  respects  worse  than  any 
that  had  before  existed;  she  was  the  true  author  of  the  mer- 
cantile theory  and  of  the  colonial  policy  which  have  been  the 
sources  of  disastrous  wars  to  every  European  nation  ;  she 
replaced  municipal  independence  by  a  centralised  despotism, 
and  the  aristocracy  of  industry  by  the  aristocracy  of  war;  ' 
and  she  uniformly  e.xerted  the  whole  stress  of  her  authority 
to  check  on  all  subjects  and  in  all  forms  the  progress  of 

1   Bhuiqui,  JJixt.  <lc  i:E<:<in.  !'<>'.,  toin.  i.  ji.  277. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    IIISTOEY    OF    RATIONALISM.  321 

enquiry  and  of  knoAvledge.  Had  she  long  continued  to 
exercise  the  assimilating,  absorbing,  an.d  controlling  influence 
of  a  great  Power,  the  advancement  of  Europe  might  have 
been  indefinitely  retarded.  Happily,  however,  Providence, 
in  the  laws  of  history  as  in  the  laws  of  matter,  tends  ever  to 
perfection,  and,  annexing  fatal  penalties  to  the  resistance  oi 
those  laws,  destroys  every  obstacle,  confounds  those  who 
seek  to  arrest  the  progress,  and,  by  the  concurrence  of  many 
agencies,  effects  the  objects  it  designs. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  Spanish  industry,  I  may  no- 
tice one  article  that  was  at  this  time  brought  into  Europe, 
not  because  it  was  itself  very  important,  but  because  it  was 
the  beginning  of  a  great  social  change  that  was  fully  accom- 
plished about  a  century  afterwards — I  mean  the  introduction 
of  hot  drinks.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  Spaniards  imported  chocolate  from  Mexico.  Rather  more 
than  half  a  century  later,  tea  was  introduced  from  China  and 
Japan.  It  had  been  noticed  by  Marco  Polo  as  early  as  the 
thirteenth  century,  but  it  was  probably  first  brought  to  Eu- 
rope by  the  Jesuit  missionaries  in  the  first  years  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  it  was  soon  after  largely  imported  by  the 
Dutch.  In  ItJoG  we  find  it  in  usage  in  France,  and  enthusi- 
astically patronised  by  the  Chancellor  Sc'guier.  The  earliest 
notice  of  it  in  England  is  in  an  Act  of  Parliament  of  1  GOO.  The 
discovery  of  the  circulation  of  blood,  which  produced  an  ex- 
aggerated estimate  of  the  nudical  value  of  bleeding  and  of 
hot  drinks,  and  the  writings  of  two  physicians  named  Tulpius 
and  liontekoe,  gave  a  great  impulse  to  its  popularity.  In  a 
letter  written  in  10SO,  Madame  de  Sc-vignc'  observes  that  the 
Marchioness  de  la  Sablicre  had  just  introduced  the  cu>tom 
of  drinking  it  with  milk.  About  the  middle  of  the  same 
century,  cotfee  began  to  pour  in  from  Turkey.  The  proper 


322  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

ties  of  this  berry  had  been  noticed  in  1591  by  the  Venetian 
physician  Alpinus,  and  soon  afterwards  by  Bacon  in  hid 
'  Natural  History,'  and  the  drink  was  introduced  into  Eng- 
land in  1652  by  an  English  Turkey  merchant  named  Ed- 
wards. In  France  the  tirst  coffee-house  was  established  at 
Marseilles  in  1GG4.  A  few  years  later,  Soliman  Aga,  tlio 
ambassador  of  Mahomet  IV.,  made  the  new  beverage  very 
fashionable  in  Paris  ;  and  in  1672  an  Armenian  named  Pascal 
established  a  coffee-house  in  that  city.  He  had  soon  count- 
less imitators ;  and  it  was  observed  that  this  new  taste  gave 
a  serious  and  almost  instantaneous  check  to  drunkenness, 
which  had  been  very  prevalent  in  France.  Coffee-houses 
were  the  true  precursors  of  the  clubs  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. They  became  the  most  important  centres  of  society, 
and  they  gave  a  new  tone  to  the  national  manners.  In  Eng- 
land, though  they  were  once  even  more  popular  than  in 
France,  and  though  they  are  indissolubly  associated  with 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  periods  of  literary  history,  they 
have  not  taken  root ;  but  the  effect  of  hot  drinks  upon  do- 
mestic life  has  probably  been  even  greater  than  on  the  Con- 
tinent. Checking  the  boisterous  revels  that  had  once  been 
universal,  and  raising  woman  to  a  new  position  in  the  do- 
mestic circle,  they  have  contributed  very  largely  to  refine 
manners,  to  introduce  a  new  order  of  iastes,  and  to  soften 
and  improve  the  character  of  men.  They  are  therefore,  I 
think,  not  unworthy  of  a  passing  notice  in  a  sketch  of  the 
moral  and  intellectual  consequences  of  commerce.1 


croix,  Ilixtoirc  dfs  Aiti'it.Hiits   Corporations,  p.    T(> ;    Pellctier,  Le   The  ct- It 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  323 

When  the  Spanish  supremacy  was  destroyed,  what  may 
be  termed  the  commercial  antagonism  of  the  two  religions 
ceased.  England  and  Holland  were  long  the  leaders  of  com- 
merce ;  and  if  Catholic  nations  have  since  distinguished  them- 

*  O 

selves  in  that  course,  it  has  been  when  their  zeal  had  groAvn 
languid  and  their  system  of  policy  been  secularised.  The 
general  superiority  in  industry  of  Protestant  countries  has 
l^een  constantly  noticed  and  often  explained.  The  suppres- 
sion of  monasteries,  the  discouragement  of  mendicity,  and 
the  construction  of  churches  that  were  in  no  decree  formed 

~ 

upon  the  ascetic  principle,  contributed  to  the  progress ;  but 
perhaps  the  principal  cause  was  the  intellectual  impulse  com- 
municated by  the  Reformation,  which  was  felt  in  every  field 
both  of  speculation  and  of  action.1 

Kut  while  the  relative  interests  of  Protestantism  and 
Catholicism  have  not  been  very  seriously  involved  in  the 
history  of  industry  since  the  seventeenth  century,  there  is 
another  form  of  antagonism  which  long  after  made  that -his- 
tory a  faithful  inirror  of  theological  progress.  I  mean  the 
conflict  between  town  and  country,  between  the  manufac- 
turing and  the  agricultural  interests.  The  question  which 
of  these  two  spheres  of  existence  is  most  conducive  to  the 
happiness  and  the  morality  of  mankind  will,  no  doubt,  al- 
ways be  contested  ;  but  the  fact  that  they  produce  entirely 
different  intellectual  tendencies,  both  in  religion  and  politics, 
will  scarcely  be  disputed.  The  country  is  ahvays  the  repre- 

1  I  do  not  include  among  these  causes  the  diminution  of  Church  holidays, 
."or  although  in  some  few  countries  they  may  have  degenerated  into  an  ali,;.je, 
the  number  that  are  compulsory  has  been  grossly  exaggerated ;  and  nn>:v- 
over,  their  good  effects  in  procuring  some  additional  ivcivatiun  for  the  work- 
ing classes  appear  to  me  to  have  much  more  than  counterbalanced  any  slight 
injury  they  may  have  done  to  labour.  There  is  some,  correspondence  be- 
tween Dr.  Doyle  and  Lord  Clonenrry  on  this  subject,  which  is  will  worthy  of 
attention,  in  Fiupatrick's  L(n  »j  1  >'->!/'!?. 


324  RATIONALISM   IX   EUROPE. 

sentative  of  stability,  immobility,  and  reaction.  The  townfl 
are  the  representatives  of  progress,  innovation,  and  revolu- 
tion. The  inhabitants  of  the  country  may  be  very  vicious ; 
but  even  in  the  midst  of  their  vice  they  will  be  extremely 
superstitious,  extremely  tenacious  of  the  customs  of  religions 
that  have  elsewhere  passed  away,  and  especially  addicted  to 
that  aspect  of  those  religions  which  is  most  opposed  to  the 
spirit  of  Rationalism.  All  the  old  superstitions  concerning 
witches,  fairies,  hereditary  curses,  prophetical  dreams,  magi- 
cal virtues,  lucky  or  unlucky  days,  places,  or  events,  still 
linger  among  the  poor ;  while  even  the  educated  are  distin- 
guished for  the  retrospective  character  of  their  minds,  and 
for  their  extreme  antipathy  to  innovation.  The  general 
character  of  srreat  towns,  and  especially  of  manufacturing 
towns,  is  entirely  different.1  It  is  indeed  true  that  the  great 
subdivision  of  labour,  while  it  is  eminently  favourable  to  the 
increase  of  wealth,  is  for  a  time  unfavourable  to  the  intel- 
lectual development  of  the  labourer;  for  the  mind  that  is 
concentrated  exclusively  upon  the  manufacture  of  a  single 
portion  of  a  single  object  is  far  less  happily  circumstanced 
than  if  it  were  occupied  with  a  complex  subject  which  de- 
mands the  exercise  of  all  its  faculties.  But  this  disadvan 
tage  is  more  than  compensated  by  the  intellectual  stimulus 
of  association,  and  by  the  increased  opportunities  which 
greater  rewards  and  steady  progress  produce.  Certain  it  is 
that  neither  the  virtues  nor  vices  of  great  towns  take  the 
fo  1-711  of  reaction  in  politics,  or  of  superstition  in  religion. 
The  past  rests  lightly,  often  too  lightly,  upon  them.  Xov 

'  The  difference  between  town  and  country  in  this  respect  lias  been  fully 
uotieed  by  Mr.  Buckle  (Hist,  of  OV.,  vol.  i.  pp.  344-347),  who  ascr.bos  it 
chiefly  to  the  fact  that  agriculturists  are  dependent  for  their  success  upon 
itruosphenc  changes,  which  man  can  neither  predict  nor  control. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RAfKXN  A.LISM.  3'2d 

elty  is  welcomed,  progress  is  eagerly  pursued.  Vague  tra- 
ditions are  keenly  criticised,  old  doctrines  are  disintegrated 
and  moulded  afresh  by  the  individual  judgment.  Besides 
this,  the  manufacturing  is  also  the  commercial  interest ;  and 
the  great  intellectual  importance  of  commerce  we  have  al- 
ready seen.  Such,  then,  being  the  opposite  predispositions 
evoked  by  agricultural  and  manufacturing  occupations,  it 
becomes  a  matter  of  considerable  interest  and  importance  to 
trace  the  history  of  their  comparative  development;  and  in 
order  to  do  so  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  a  brief  outline  of 
the  progress  of  economical  opinion  on  the  subject. 

Before  the  dawn  of  a  correct  political  economy  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  Europe  was  for  the  most  part  divided 
between  two  doctrines  on  the  subject  of  commerce.  Both 
schools  regarded  money  as  the  single  form  of  wealth ;  but, 
according  to  one  of  them,  commerce  should  be  altogether 
discouraged,  as  at  best  a  dangerous  and  a  gambling  specula- 
tion; while,  according  to  the  other,  it  should  be  pursued  as 
the  chief  method  of  acquiring  wealth,  but  only  on  the  con- 
dition of  the  exports  exceeding  the  imports.  The  first  of 
these  schools  usually  discouraged  manufactures,  and  concen- 
trated its  attention  upon  agriculture;  the  other  was  eminent- 
ly favourable  to  manufactures.  Before  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  notions  of  the  first  school,  without  being  systematized  or 
formally  stated,  were  very  generally  diffused  ;  politicians  la 
boured  to  make  each  nation  entirely  self-subsisting  ;  and  thei 
\vas  an  antipathy,  or  at  least  a  disinclination,  to  any  specula- 
tion that  involved  an  export  of  gold,  even  with  the  eventual 
object  of  obtaining  a  larger  >upply  in  return.1  Besides  thi>, 
the  rude  simplicity  of  manners  which  made  the  demand  for 


326  RATIONALISM   LNT    EUKOPK 

manufactured  goods  very  small,  the  superstitions  about  usury 
which  fell  with  crushing  weight  on  industrial  enterprise,  the 
imperfection  of  the  means  of  communication,  the  zeal  with 
which  the  monks  pursued  agriculture,  the  especial  adaptation 
of  that  pursuit,  on  account  of  its  comparative  facility,  to  au 
early  stage  of  civilisation,  and  the  recollection  of  the  peculiar 
honour  in  which  it  had  been  held  by  the  ancients,  —  all  tend- 
ed in  the  same  direction.  With  the  exception  of  the  Italian 
republics  and  the  cities  of  the  Ilanseatic  League,  which  had 
little  or  no  land  to  cultivate,  and  were  almost  forced  by 
their  circumstances  into  commerce,  agriculture  was  every- 
where the  dominant  form  of  labour,  and  the  habits  of  mind 
it  created  contributed  much  to  colour,  intensify,  and  perpetu- 
ate the  mediaeval  superstitions. 

"When,  however,  the  great  discoveries  of  gold  in  America 
created  in  all  nations  an  eager  desire  to  obtain  it,  industry 
began  to  assume  a  new  form  and  more  gigantic  proportions; 
and  although,  owing  to  causes  which  I  have  already  traced, 
it  languished  in  Spain,  it  was  rapidly  developed  in  other 
countries,  and  the  opinions  of  statesmen  on  the  subject  were 
steadily  modified.  Sully  was  probably  the  last  minister  of 
very  considerable  abilities  who  systematically  opposed  manu- 
factures as  an  evil.  The  opposite  opinion,  which  regarded 
them  as  the  most  efficient  magnet  of  foreign  gold,  found  its 
greatest  representative  in  Coliicrt;1  and  although  the  ruinous 

1  See  Ulanqui.  In  England  the  mercantile  system  began  under  the  influ 
ence  of  the  East  India  Company,  \vhicli,  in  1000,  obtained  permission  "O 
export  the  precious  metals  to  the  amount  of  £.'iO,000  per  annum,  on  the  con- 
dition that  within  six  months  of  every  expedition  (except  the  first)  the  Com- 
pan  7  should  import  an  equal  sum.  Under  Henry  YJII.,  and  more  than  once 
at  an  earlier  period,  all  exportation  of  tin;  precious  metals  had  been  foi  bid- 
den. The  restrictive  laws  on  this  subject  were  repealed  in  1'iGl!  (M'Culloch's 
Iii.trdiJ.  Dixronrse).  The  two  most  eminent  English  defenders  of  the  mcrcan- 
'.ile  sy.-tem  —  Thomas  Mim,  \vho.-e  Trm-urc  f>//  Fore'Kjn  'I'l-mh-  was  published 


t 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  327 

wars  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  still  more  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  in  a  great  measure  counteracted  his  efforts; 
although,  too,  the  ultimate  effects  of  the  protective  system 
have  been  extremely  detrimental  to  industry ;  there  can  "be 
little  doubt  that  this  minister  did  more  than  any  pi-ecedirig 
Statesman  to  make  manufactures  a  prominent  form  of  Euro- 
pean industry.  lie  removed  many  of  the  impositions  under 
which  they  suffered,  protected  their  interests  whenever  they 
were  menaced,  and  did  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  encourage 
their  development. 

Indeed,  at  first  sight,  the  school  which  followed  that  of 
Colbert,  though  in  reality  an  immense  step  in  advance,  might 
appear  less  favourable  to  the  manufacturing  interests.  The 
economists — as  Quesnay,  and  those  very  able  writers  and 
statesmen  who  adopted  his  opinions,  were  termed' — were-  not 
simply  the  precursors  of  political  economy;  they  Avere  the 
actual  founders  of  many  parts  of  it ;  and  though  their  system, 
as  a  whole,  has  perished,  and  their  fame  been  eclipsed  by  the 
great  thinker  of  Scotland,  they  Avill  always  form  one  of  the 
most  important  links  in  the  history  of  the  science.  Perhaps 
their  principal  achievement  Avas  the  repudiation  of  the  old 
doctrine  that  all  Avealth  consisted  of  gold — a  doctrine  Avhich, 
having  lighted  up  the  labours  of  the  alchemists,  and  inspired 
all  the  Eldorado  dreams  of  the  middle  ages,  had  become  the 
cardinal  principle  of  commercial  legislation.1  Almost  at  the 
same  time,  and  about  twenty-five  years  before  the  publication 

in  It'll' 1,  and  Sir  Josiah  Child,  \\hose  X<  »•  /;;,,v.,?/;w  <,f  7V<"/,-  va.--  published 
jn  1008 — both  wrote  in  the  interests  of  the  Kast  India  Company. 

1  The  earliest  writer  who  very  clearly  expounded  the  true  nature  of  money 
was  probably  Bishop  Berkeley,  \vho-e  Qv<  rixt,  eon-idi-ritiir  that  it  v.a-  written 
in  ll'-'i^,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in>tances  of  political  rapacity  of  thu 
use ;  far  superior  in  this  respect,  I  think,  to  the  economical  writings  of 
Locke.  Berkeley  very  nearly  broke  loose  from  the  sy-tein  of  'the  balane* 


328  KATIOXALISM  IN  EUROPE. 

of  'The  Wealth  of  Nations,'  this  doctrine  was  assailed,  and 
the  possibility  of  the  increase  of  wealth  being  in  inverse 
proportion  to  the  increase  of  gold  was  asserted,  by  Hume  in 
England,  and  by  Quesnay  in  France.  But  while  the  French 
economists  perceived  very  clearly  the  mistake  of  their  prede- 
cessors, when  they  came  to  establish  their  own  doctrine  they 
fell  into  an  error  which  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  dif- 
ficulty with  which,  in  one  stage  of  progress,  even  the  most 
acute  minds  rise  to  truths  which  in  another  stage  appear  per- 
fectly self-evident.  Nothing,  according  to  their  view,  can 
really  add  to  the  national  wealth  which  does  not  call  new 
mutter  into  existence,  or  at  least  introduce  it  to  the  service 
of  men.  Mines,  fisheries,  and  agriculture  fulfil  these  con- 
ditions, and  consequently  add  to  the  national  wealth.  Manu- 
factures, simply  giving  matter  a  new  form,  though  they  are 
extremely  useful  to  the  community,  and  though  they  may 
enable  an  individual  to  augment  his  portion  of  the  national 
wealth,  can  never  increase  the  great  total.  Practically,  there- 
fore, for  the  great  inajority  of  nations,  agriculture  is  the  sin- 
gle source  of  wealth  ;  all  manufactures  arc  ultimately  salaried 

of  commerce.'  The  following  queries  are  a  curious  example  of  the  struggles 
of  an  acute  reason  against  this  universal  error  : — 

1  Whether  that  trade  should  not  be  accounted  most  pernicious,  wherein 
the  balance  is  most  against  us  ''.  and  whether  this  be  not  the  trade  of  France:1 ' 
'  Whether  the  annual  trade  between  Italy  and  Lyons  be  not  about  four  mil- 
lions in  favour  of  the  former,  and  yet  whether  Lyons  be  not  a  gainer  by  this 
trade  : '  '  Whether  the  general  rule  of  determining  the  profit  of  a  commerce 
by  its  balance  doth  not,  like  other  rules,  admit  of  exceptions  '; '  '  Whether 
it  would  not  be  a  monstrous  folly  to  import  nothing  but  gold  and  silver,  sup- 
posing we  might  do  it,  from  every  foreign  part  to  which  we  trade  'i ' 
'  \VheUier  he  must  not  be  a  wrong-headed  patriot  or  politician  whose  ultimate 
view  was  drawing  money  into  a  country  and  keeping  it  there?'  (Querist, 
*11,  555,  550,  557,  55'.'.) 

Berkeley  is  an  example  of,  perhaps,  the  rare.-t  form  of  genius — that  which 
ia  usually  adapted  for  political  speculation,  and  for  the  most  subtle  and  supei* 
jensuous  regions  of  metaphysics. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL,    HISTORY    OF    RATION ALISM.  329 

by  it,  and  its  encouragement  should  be  the  main  object  of 
judicious  policy.  Raynal,  it  is  true,  in  this  matter  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  school.  He  saw  that  manufactures  in- 
vested the  raw  material  witli  new  qualities,  and  making  it 
the  object  of  new  demand  increased  its  value;  but  at  this 
point  he  stopped.1  Agriculture  and  industry  he  regarded  as 
both  sources  of  national  wealth,  but  not  so  commerce.  For- 
getting that  an  article  may  be  far  more  valuable  in  a  country 
into  which  it  is  imported  than  in  that  in  which  it  is  indige- 
nous, and  that  when  the  costs  incident  upon  transport  have 
been  deducted  from  this  excess,  the  remainder  is  a  pure  gain, 
he  maintained  that  commerce,  being  simply  displacement, 
could  not  increase  the  general  wealth. 

These  doctrines  were  undoubtedly  in  some  respects  very 
unfavourable  to  manufactures,  yet  their  consequences  were 
not  as  evil* as  might  have  been  expected.  In  the  first  place, 
the  economists  were  unwittingly  guilty  of  a  grievous  injus- 
tice to  their  favourite  pursuit.  All  taxation,  they  believed, 
should  be  levied  upon  the  net  gains  of  the  country;  and  as 
those  gains  were  exclusively  due  to  agriculture,  they  con- 
cluded, as  Locke  on  somewhat  different  grounds  had  con- 
cluded in  the  preceding  century,  that,  the  proprietors  of  the 
soil  should  bear  the  entire  burden.  Besides  this,  the  econo- 
mists, as  the  first  great  opponents  of  the  mercantile  theory, 
were  on  all  occasions  the  advocates  of  free  trade,  the  sub- 
verters  of  every  form  of  monopoly,  the  reformers  of  all  the 
Means  of  communication.  By  the  ministry  of  Turgot,  and 
by  the  legislation  of  the  revolutionary  parliaments,  such 
countless  abuses  of  detail  were  swept  away,  and  so  many 
useful  measures  recommended,  that  it  may  be  truly  said  that 
manufactures  owe  more  to  them  than  to  any  preceding  legis- 
lators. 


330  EATIONALISM   IN   EUEOPE. 

At  last  Adam  Smith  appeared ;  and  while  he  effectually 
destroyed  all  that  part  of  the  doctrine  of  the  economists 
which  was  hostile  to  manufactures,  he  established  upon  the 
firm  basis  of  demonstration,  and  developed  and  irradiated 
with  matchless  skill,  all  that  was  most  favourable  to  theii 
progress.  Proving  that  labour  was  the  basis  of  value,  that 
money  is  but  a  single  form  of  merchandise  which  has  been 
selected  as  the  instrument  of  exchange,  and  that  the  goods 

O      J  O 

of  foreign  countries  are  eventually  purchased  by  native  pro 
ductious — unravelling  by  a  chain  of  the  clearest  but  most  sub- 
tle reasoning  the  functions  of  capital,  the  manner  in  which  it 
is  created  by  the  combination  of  parsimony  with  industry,  and 
the  special  facilities  which  manufactures  and  the  division  of  la- 
bour of  which  they  admit  offer  for  its  increase — giving,  too, 
a  fatal  blow  to  the  system  of  restrictions  by  which  statesmen 
had  long  imagined  that  they  could  promote  the  interests  of 
wealth, — Adam  Smith  performed  the  double  service  of  dis- 
pelling the  notion  that  manufactures  are  useless  or  perni- 
cious, and  unfolding  the  true  laws  that-  regulate  their  pros- 
perity. Generation  after  generation,  and  almost  year  by 
year,  his  principles  have  penetrated  more  deeply  into  the 
policy  of  Europe;  and  generation  after  generation,  manufac- 
tures, freed  from  their  old  shackle?,  acquire  a  greater  expan- 
sion, and  the  habits  of  thought  which  they  produce  a  corre- 
sponding importance. 

It  is,  however,  an  extremely  remarkable  fact,  as  showing 
the  tenacity  with  which  the  doctrines  of  the  '  economists ' 
clung  to  the  mind,  that  even  Adam  Smith  thought  it  neces- 
sary, in  classifying  the  sources  of  wealth,  to  reserve  for  agri- 
culture a  position  of  special  prominence,  as  the  most  abun- 
dant :)f  these  sources.1  He  arrived  at  this  conclusion,  not 
1  Wealth  of  ya/io/i*,  book  ii.  di.  5. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  333 

from  any  observation  of  what  had  actually  taken  place,  but 
from  two  general  considerations.  In  manufactures,  he  con- 
tended, wealth  is  produced  by  the  unaided  toil  of  man, 
whereas  in  agriculture  nature  cooperates  with  human  exer- 
tions. Besides  this,  agriculture,  unlike  other  pursuits,  in  ad- 
dition to  wages  and  profit,  can  furnish  a  rent.  The  first  of 
these  statements,  as  has  often  been  observed,  is  palpably  in- 
accurate, for  nature  is  in  many  instances  extremely  service- 
able to  the  manufacturer;  as,  for  example,  when  steam  or 
water  puts  his  machinery  in  motion.  The  second  argument 
lost  its  force  when  Ricardo  discovered  the  true  cause  of  rent, 
proving  that  it  is  a  sign  of  the  limited  productivity  of  the 
soil,  and  not  of  its  superiority  to  other  sources  of  wealth.1 

But  while  this  steady  modification  of  economical  opinions 
in  favour  of  manufactures  is  one  great  cause  of  the  progress 
of  the  latter,  it  would  probably  have  been  insufficient,  but 
for  the  cooperation  of  two  other  influences.  The  first  of 
these  was  the  system  of  credit.  This  remarkable  agency, 
which  has  long  proved  one  of  the  great  moralising  influences 
of  society,  by  the  immense  importance  it  has  bestowed  upon 

•  As  long  as  the  good  land  to  be  cultivated  is  practically  unlimited  rela- 
tively tr  the  population,  uo  rent  is  paid.  When,  however,  the  best  land  no 
longer  sufficiently  supplies  the  wants  of  an  increased  population,  it  will  still 
continue  to  be  cultivated  ;  but  it  will  be  necessary  also  to  cultivate  land  of 
an  inferior  quality.  The  cost  of  the  production  of  a  given  quantity  of  the 
bust  corn  will  necessarily  be  greater  when  derived  from  the  latter  than  when 
derived  from  the  former;  but  when  brought  to  the  market,  all  corn  of  tin.' 
same  quality  will  bear  the  same  price,  rind  that  price  will  be  regulated  by  the 
co-st  of  production  which  is  greatest  (for  no  one  would  cultivate  the  bad  land 
if  the  sale  of  its  produce  did  not  compensate  for  his  outlay'),  so  that  in  the 
sale  of  corn  of  the  same  quality  at  the  same  price,  the  profits  of  the  pos.-rs 
gors  of  tin1  good,  will  be  greater  than  the  profits  of  the  possessors  of  the  t,ad 
land.  This  difference  is  the  oiigin  of  rent,  which  is,  therefore,  not  a  primal 
element  of  agriculture,  and  (vhieh  has  not,  as  Adam  Smith  supposed,  anj 
influence  on  price. 


332  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

character,  and  one  of  the  great  pledges  of  peace,  by  the  union 
it  has  established  between  different  nations,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  engines  of  warfare,  is 
chiefly  due  to  the  industrial  genius  of  Holland;  for  though 
some  traces  of  it  may  be  found  among  the  Jews  and  the  Ital- 
ian republics  of  the  middle  ages,  the  system  was  not  duly 
organised  till  the  establishment  of  the  bank  of  Amsterdam  in 
1609.  The  immediate  object  was  to  increase  the  amount  of 
money  in  circulation,  and  thus  give  a  new  impetus  to  indiio- 
try;  and  within  certain  limits,  and  subject  to  certain  dan- 
gers, which  we  have  not  now  to  consider,  it  has  fully  an- 
swered its  end. 

The  second  influence  is  the  rapid  development  of  mechani- 
cal contrivances.  Strictly  speaking,  machinery  dates  from 
the  rudest  instrument  by  which  men  tilled  the  soil;  but  its 
higher  and  more  elaborate  achievements  are  always  the  prod- 
uct of  civilisation,  upon  which,  in  turn,  they  powerfully 
react.  The  most  important  machine  invented,  or  at  least 
introduced  into  Europe,  in  the  middle  ages,  was  probably 
the  windmill,1  which  was  an  agent  in  the  agricultural 
interests.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  a  machine  for  printing 
transformed  the  intellectual  condition  of  Europe.  In  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  machines  of  Watt,  Arkwright,  and 
Stephensoii,  and  the  many  minor  inventions  that  are  subsid- 
iary to  them,  have  given  an  impulse  both  to  commerce  and 
manufactures  which  is  altogether  unparalleled  in  the  history 
of  mankind.  In  addition  to  the  necessarv  difficulties  con 


1  The  earliest  European  notice  of  windmills  is.  1  believe,  to  be  foun<l  in 
a  charter  of  William,  Count  of  Mortain  (grandson  of  William  the  Conqueror), 
dated  1105,  •which  has  been  published  by  Mabillon.  They  arc  supposed  to 
have  been  Drought  from  Asia  Minor.  (D'Aussy,  LSI  Vi>  >:>v\vi:e  </es  Franrais, 
torn.  i.  pp.  62,  Go.) 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  333 

uected  with  the  introduction  of  a  new  form  of  industry, 
every  step  of  the  progress  of  machines  was  met  by  a  fierce 
opposition,  directed  at  one  time  by  the  ablest  statesmen,1  and 
long  afterwards  sustained  by  the  lower  classes,  who  very 
naturally  regarded  these  inventions  as  prejudicial  to  thei* 
interests.  And,  certainly,  the  first  result  of  machinery,  by 
economising  the  labour  of  production,  is  to  throw  a  vast 
number  of  the  poor  out  of  employment,  and  to  reduce,  by 
increased  concurrence,  the  wages  of  the  remainder.  The 
second  is  to  diminish  the  price  of  the  article  of  manufacture, 
to  the  benefit  of  the  consumer;  and  in  most  cases  this  depre- 
ciation leads  to  an  immense  extension  of  demand,  which 
necessitates  a  multiplication  of  machines,  and  usually  con- 
tinues till  the  number  of  persons  employed  is  immeasurably 
greater  than  before  the  machinery  had  been  introduced.  At 
the  same  time,  this  increased  facility  of  production  and  this 
increased  demand  produce  an  accumulation  of  capital  fai 
more  rapid  than  had  previously  taken  place  ;  which,  as  the 
rate  of  wages  depends  entirely  upon  the  proportion  national 
capital  bears  to  the  labouring  classes,  among  whom  it  is  to 
be  divided,  is  a  main  condition  of  the  material  prosperity  of 
the  latter.  Even  in  those  instances  in  which,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  the  demand  for  the  manufactured  article 
cannot  be  so  extended  as  to  compensate  for  the  loss  of 
employment  which  the  introduction  of  machinery  occasions, 
although  the  passing  evils  are  verv  threat,  the  change  is 
usually  an  advantage  ;  for  economical  production  implies 
increasing  wealth,  and  the  capital  gained  in  one  department 
finds  its  outlet  in  others. 

There  are,  no  doubt,  other  Hurts  of  machinery  wiiirh  are 
serious    drawbacks     to     tlu->e     advantages- — some    of    them 


334  RATIONALISM   IN   EUEOPE. 

inherent  in  this  mode  of  production,  but  many  of  them  part- 
ly or  altogether  due  to  the  process  of  transition.  Such  ar« 
the  great  increase  of  the  inequalities  of  fortune  which  results 
from  the  absorption  of  all  production  by  colossal  manufac- 
tures, the  unnatural  multiplication  and  agglomeration  of 
population  they  occasion,  the  sudden  and  disastrous  fluctua- 
tions to  which  manufacturing  industry  is  peculiarly  liable, 
the  evil  effects  it  frequently  exercises  upon  health,  and  the 
temptation  to  employ  young  children  in  its  service.  All 
these  points  have  given  rise  to  much  animated  discussion, 
which  it  does  not  fall  within  the  province  of  the  present 
work  to  review ;  but  at  all  events  it  is  unquestionable  that, 
for  good  or  for  evil,  the  invariable  effect  of  modern  machinery 
has  been  to  increase  the  prominence  of  manufactures,  to 
multiply  the  number  of  those  engaged  in  them,  and,  there- 
fore, in  the  opposition  of  tendencies  that  exists  bet  ween  the 
agricultural  and  manufacturing  classes,  to  incline  the  balance 
in  favour  of  the  latter. 

Beyond  all  other  nations,  England  has  been  in  this  respect 
distinguished.  Both  in  the  intellectual  and  in  the  mechani- 
cal influences  I  have  reviewed,  she  stands  without  a  rival; 
for  with,  I  think,  the  exception  of  Say,  France  has  not  pro- 
duced any  political  economist  of  great  original  powers  since 
Turgot ;  and  America,  notwithstanding  her  rare  mechanical 
genius,  is  as  yet  unable  to  boast  of  a  Watt  or  a  Stephenson. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  a  land  which  has  attained  this  dou- 
ble supremacy,  and  which  possesses  at  the  same  time  un- 
limited coal-mines,  an  unrivalled  navy,  and  a  government 
that  can  never  lone;:  resist  the  natural  tendency  of  affairs, 
should  be  preeminently  the  land  of  manufactures.  In  no 
other  country  are  the  intellectual  influences  connected  with 
them  so  powerful;  and  the  constant  increase  of  the  manu- 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    IIISTOKY   OF   RATIONALISM.  335 

facturing  population  is  rapidly  verifying,  in  a  sense  that 
should  not  be  restricted  to  politics,  the  prediction  of  Mr. 
Cobden,  that  eventually  '  the  towns  must  govern  England.' ' 

In  the  preceding  examination  of  the  ways  ii  which  the 
successive  evolutions  of  European  industry  have  reflected  or 
influenced  the  history  of  belief,  I  have  often  had  occasion  to 
refer  to  the  different  branches  of  political  economy  in  their 
relation  to  different  aspects  of  industrial  progress.  It  remains 
for  me  now  to  consider  in  a  more  general  point  of  view  the 
theological  consequences  of  this  great  science,  which  has 
probably  done  more  than  any  other  to  reveal  the  true  phys- 
iology of  society.  For  although  political  economists,  and 
especially  those  of  England,  have  often  endeavoured  to 
isolate  the  phenomena  of  wealth,  all  such  attempts  have 
proved  entirely  futile.  Even  Adam  Smith  lighted  up  an  im- 
mense series  of  moral  and  social  interests  by  his  science. 
Malthus,  opening  out  the  great  question  of  population,  im- 
mensely increased  its  range;  and  it  is  now  impossible  to  be 
imbued  with  the  leading  writings  on  the  subject  without 
forming  certain  criteria  of  excellence,  certain  general  concep- 
tions of  the  aim  and  laws  of  human  progress,  that  cannot  be 
restricted  to  material  interests.  I  shall  endeavour,  without 
entering  into  any  minute  details,  to  sketch  the  general  out- 
lines of  these  conceptions,  and  to  show  in  what  respects 
they  harmonise  or  clash  with  theological  notions. 

The  first  important  consequence  of  political  economy  1 
have  in  some  degree  anticipated  in  the  la-t  chapter.  It  is  to 


Ti-.eiv  are  -om^  .-inking,  ilim;^!)  now  ratlin1  niiri-m.  .-fati-tii-*  on  ;h!- 
po'.nl  in  ttalibairi;  Oil  M<~i<-l< <'.<•  *,  r!i.  i.  \\\  l.v.10,  tlio  non-cultivators  "«orp  in 
Italy  as  "1  to  KH>;  in  J-Yaixv.  as  r,0  to  li'ii;  in  Kimlaml,  as  _"0  to  10' 
DuriiiLT  tlio  fir.-t  thirty  v>\us  of  tlir  ivntnry,  ih./  ]-opnla:i:.n  d'  Kiuldii'J  .11 
creased  aliout  lii'c\-on(>  JUT  mit.  ;  i!iat  ot'  the  iircat  towns,  1  •!'•'<  ;••  r  a  lit. 


336  KATIONALISM    EST    EUEOPE. 

contribute  largely  towards  the  realisation  of  the  great  Chris* 
tian  conception  of  universal  peace.  The  history  of  the 
fortunes  of  that  conception  in  the  hands  of  theologians  is 
profoundly  melancholy.  Though  peace  upon  earth  was  at 
first  proclaimed  as  a  main  object  of  Christianity,  and  though 
for  about  three  centuries  the  Christian  disciples  displayed 
unwearied  zeal  and  amazing  heroism  in  advocating  it,  the 
sublime  conception  of  a  moral  unity  gradually  faded  away 
before  the  conception  of  a  unity  of  ecclesiastical  organisa- 
tion ;  and  for  many  centuries  theologians  were  so  far  from 
contributing  to  the  suppression  of  war,  that  they  may  be 
justly  regarded  as  its  chief  fomenters.  Certain  it  is,  that 
the  period  when  the  Catholic  Church  exercised  a  supreme 
ascendency,  was  also  the  period  in  which  Europe  was  most 
distracted  by  wars ;  and  that  the  very  few  instances  in' 
which  the  clergy  exerted  their  gigantic  influence  to  suppress 
them,  are  more  than  counterbalanced  by  those  in  which  they 
were  the  direct  causes  of  the  bloodshed.  Indeed,  they 
almost  consecrated  war  by  teaching  that  its  issue  was  not 
the  result  of  natural  agencies,  but  of  supernatural  interposi- 
tion. As  the  special  sphere  of  Providential  action,  it  as- 
sumed a  holy  character,  and  success  became  a  proof,  or  at 
least  a  strong  presumption,  of  right.  Hence  arose  that  union 
between  the  sacerdotal  and  the  military  spirit  which  meets 
us  in  every  page  of  history;  the  countless  religious  rites  that 
were  interwoven  with  military  proceedings;  the  legends  of 
visible  miracles  deciding  the  battle  ;  the  trial  by  combat, 
which  the  clergy  often  wished  to  suppress,  but  which  never- 
theless continued  for  centuries,  because  all  classes  regarded 
the  ii-suc  as  the  judicial  decision  of  the  Deity.  When  these 
superstitions  in  some  measure  decayed,  the  religious  wars 
began.  The  bond  of  Catholic  unity,  which  was  entirely 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   -RATIONALISM.  337 

insufficient  to  prevent  wars  "between  Catholic  nations,  proved 
powerful  enough  to  cause  frightful  convulsions  when  it  was 
assailed  ;  and  one  of  the  most  faithful  measures  of  the  decay 
of  theological  influences  has  been  the  gradual  cessation  of 
the  wars  they  produced. 

The  inadequacy  of  theological  systems  as  a  basis  of 
European  tranquillity  having  been  clearly  proved  by  the 
experience  of  many  centuries,  there  arose  in  the  eighteenth 
century  a  school  which  attempted  to  establish  this  tranquil- 
lity by  a  purely  intellectual  process — by  giving  intellectual 
pursuits  and  political  principles  a  decisive  predominance  over 
the  military  spirit.  I  allude  to  the  French  philosophers, 
who  in  this  as  in  many  other  respects  were  simply  endeav- 
ouring to  realise  in  their  own  way  one  of  the  great  ideal 
conceptions  of  Christianity.  They  arose  at  a  period  well 
suited  to  the  enterprise.  France  was  wearied,  exhausted, 
and  almost  ruined  by  the  long  Avars  of  Louis  XIV.  The 
prestige  that  Conde  and  Turenne  had  cast  upon  the  French 
arms  had  perished  beneath  the  still  greater  genius  of  Marl- 
borough.  An  intense  intellectual  life  had  arisen,  accom- 
panied by  all  the  sanguine  dreams  of  youth.  Voltaire,  after 
coquetting  for  a  short  time  with  the  military  spirit,  threw 
himself  cordially  into  the  cause  of  peace.  He  employed  all 
his  amazing  abilities  and  all  his  unrivalled  influence  to  dis- 
credit war,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  his  followers,  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  the  closest  union  between  the  intel- 
lects of  France  and  England,  and  in  replacing  the  old  theo- 
logical and  military  antipathy  by  the  sympathy  of  common 
aspirations. 

But  a  few  vears  passed  away,  and  all  this  was  changed. 
The  iniquitous  war  against  the  French  Devolution  into  which 
Pitt  suffered  his  country  to  plunge,  and  the  pernicious  geniu- 
3-2 


338  RATIONALISM   IK   EUROPE. 

of  Napoleon,  e^  oked  all  the  reactionary  influences  in  Europe^ 
revived  the  military  spirit  in  its  full  intensity,  and  plunged 
the  greater  part  of  the  civilised  world  into  the  agonies  of  a 
deadly  struggle. 

There  can,  I  think,  be  little  doubt  that  there  is  a  ten- 
dency in  civilisation  to  approximate  towards  the  ideal  of  tho 
French  philosophers.  It  can  hardly  be  questioned  that  the 
advance  of  intellectual  culture  produces  a  decline  of  the 
military  spirit,  and  that  the  cohesion  resulting  from  a  com- 
munity of  principles  and  intellectual  tendencies  is  rapidly 
superseding  artificial  political  combinations.  But  at  the 
same  time  it  is  no  less  certain  that  the  bond  of  intellectual 
sympathy  alone  is  far  too  weak  to  restrain  the  action  of  col- 
liding passions,  and  it  was  reserved  for  political  economy  to 
supply  a  stronger  and  more  permanent  principle  of  unity. 

This  principle  is  an  enlightened  self-interest.  Formerly, 
as  I  have  said,  the  interests  of  nations  were  supposed  to  be 
diametrically  opposed.  The  wealth  that  was  added  to  one 
was  necessarily  taken  from  another;  and  all  commerce  was 
a  kind  of  balance,  in  which  a  gain  on  one  side  implied  a  cor- 
responding loss  on  the  opposite  one.  Every  blow  that  was 
struck  to  the  prosperity  of  one  nation  was  of  advantage  to 
the  rest,  fur  it  diminished  the  number  of  those  among  whom 
the  wealth  of  the  world  was  to  be  divided,  lleligion  mJo-ht 
indeed  interpose  and  tell  men  that  they  ought  not  to  rejoice 
in  the  misfortunes  of  others,  and  that  they  should  subordi- 
nate their  interests  to  higher  considerations;  but  still  each 
people,  ;is  far  as  it  followed  its  selfish  interests,  was  hostile 
to  its  neighbour;1  and  even  in  the  best  ages  the  guiding 


THE   INDUSTRIAL   HISTuRY   OF   RATIONALISM.  339 

principles  of  large  bodies  of  men  are  almost  always  selfish 
Independently  of  the  many  wars  that  were  directly  occa- 
sioned by  a  desire  to  alter  commercial  relations,  there  was 
a  constant  smouldering  ill-feeling  created  by  the  sense  of 
habitual  antagonism,  which  the  slightest  difference  kindle-:! 
into  a  flame. 

For  this  great  evil  political  economy  is  the  only  correc- 
tive. It  teaches,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  notion  that  a 
commercial  nation  can  only  prosper  by  the  loss  of  its  neigh- 
bour, is  essentially  false.  It  teaches  still  further  that  each 
nation  has  a  direct  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  that  with 
which  it  trades,  just  as  a  shopman  has  an  interest  in  the 
wealth  of  his  customers.  It  teaches  too  that  the  different 
markets  of  the  world  ai'e  so  closely  connected,  that  it  is 
quite  impossible  for  a  serious  derangement  to  take  place  in 
any  one  of  them  without  its  evil  effects  vibrating  through 
all;  and  that,  in  the  present  condition  of  Europe,  commer- 
cial tics  are  so  numerous,  and  the  interests  of  nations  so 
closely  interwoven,  that  war  is  usually  an  evil  even  to  the 
victor.  Each  successive  development  of  political  economy 
has  brought  these  truths  into  clearer  relief,  and  in  propor- 
tion to  their  diffusion  must  be  the  antipathy  to  war;  the 
desire  to  restrict  it,  when  it  does  break  out,  as  far  as  possible 
to  those  Avho  are  actually  engaged:  and  the  hostility  to  all 

v  O       ~  « 

who  have  provoked  it.  Every  fresh  commercial  enterprise 
is  therefore  an  additional  guarantee  of  peace. 

I  know  that,  in  the  present  day,  when  Europe  i-  sufferino 
to  an  almost  unexampled  extent  from  the  disquietude  result- 
ing from  the  conflict  between  opposing  principles  and  un- 
equal civilisations,  speculations  of  this  kind  must  appi-ar  to 
many  unreal  and  Utopian.  3Io-t  o>>uredly,  as  l<mg  as  na- 
tions tolerate  monarchs  who,  resting  upon  the  traditions  of 


340  RATIONALISM   TS    EUROPE. 

an  effete  theocracy,  regard  their  authority  as  of  divine  rigl  t, 
and  esteem  it  their  main  duty  to  arrest  by  force  the  political 
developments  of  civilisation,  so  long  must  standing  armies 
and  wars  of  opinion  continue.  Xor  would  the  most  sanguine 
political  economist  venture  to  predict  a  time  in  which  the 
sword  would  be  altogether  unknown.  The  explosions  of 
passion  are  not  always  restrained  by  the  most  evident  tics 
of  interest ;  exceptional  circumstances  counteract  genera] 
tendencies  ;  and  commerce,  which  links  civilised  communi- 
ties in  a  bond  of  unity,  has  ever  forced  her  way  among  bar- 
barians by  bloodshed  and  by  tyranny.  But  in  order  to  jus 
tify  the  prospect  of  a  great  and  profound  change  in  the  rela- 
tions of  European  nations,  it  is  only  necessary  to  make  two 
postulates.  The  first  is,  that  the  industrial  element,  which, 
in  spite  of  legislative  restrictions  and  military  perturbations, 
is  advancing  every  year  with  accelerated  rapidity,  is  destined 
one  day  to  become  the  dominant  influence  in  politics.  The 
second  is,  that  those  principles  of  political  economy  which 
are  now  acknowledged  to  be  true  by  every  one  who  has  stud- 
ied them,  will  one  day  be  realised  as  axioms  by  the  masses. 
Amid  the  complications  and  elaborations  of  civilisation,  the 
deranging  influence  of  passion,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil, 
becomes  continually  less,  and  interest  becomes  more  and 
more  the  guiding  influence,  not  perhaps  of  individuals,  but 
of  communities.  In  proportion  to  the  commercial  and  indus- 
trial advancement  of  a  nation,  its  interests  become  favourable 
to  peace,  and  the  love  of  war  is  in  consequence  diminished. 
When  therefore  the  different  states  of  Europe  are  closely 
interwoven  by  commercial  interests,  when  the  classes  who 
represent  those  interests  have  become  the  guiding  power  of 
the  state,  and  when  they  are  fully  penetrated  with  the  truth 
that  war  in  any  quarter  is  detrimental  to  their  prosperity,  a 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    IIISTOEY    OF    RATIONALISM.  341 

guarantee  for  the  peace  of  Europe  will  have  been  attained, 
if  not  perfect,  at  least  far  stronger  than  any  which  either  re- 
ligion or  philanthropy  has  yet  realised.  In  such  a  condition 
of  commercial  actiA'ity,  and  in  such  a  condition  of  public 
knowledge,  a  political  transformation  wTould  necessarily  en- 
sue, and  the  principal  causes  of  present  perturbations  would 
be  eliminated.  At  the  same  time  two  kindred  movements 
which  I  have  already  noticed — the  recognition  of  the  princi- 
ple of  the  rights  of  nationalities  as  the  basis  of  political  mo- 
rality, and  the  growing  ascendency  of  intellectual  pursuits 
diminishing  the  admiration  of  military  glory — would  consoli- 
date the  interests  of  peace.  Many  years  must  undoubtedly 
elapse  before  such  a  condition  of  society  can  be  attained ; 
torrents  of  blood  must  yet  be  shed  before  the  political  obsta- 
cles shall  have  been  removed,  before  the  nationalities  which 
are  still  writhing  beneath  a  foreign  yoke  shall  have  been  re- 
lieved, and  before  advancing  knowledge  shall  have  finally 
destroyed  those  theological  doctrines  concerning  the  rela- 
tions between  sovereigns  and  nations  which  are  the  basis  of 
many  of  the  worst  tyrannies1  that  are  cursing  mankind;  but 
as  surely  as  civilization  advances,  so  surely  must  the  tri- 
umph come.  Liberty,  industry,  and  peace  are  in  modern 
societies  indissolubly  connected,  and  their  ultimate  ascend- 
ency depends  upon  a  movement  which  may  be  retarded,  but 
cannot  possibly  be  arrested. 

It  should  be  observed,  too,  that  while  the  nations  which 
are  most  devoted  to  industrial  enterprise  are  the  most 
wealthy  and  the  most  pacific,  they  are  also,  as  a  general  rule, 
those  which  are  most  likelv  to  wield  the  greatest  power  in 
war.  This,  as  Adam  Smith  has  acutely  observed,  is  one  of 
the  most  important  differences,  between  ancient  and  modern 
societies.  Formerlv,  when  war  depended  almost  entirely 


342  RATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

upon  unaided  valour,  the  military  position  of  a  nch  nation 
was  usually  unfavourable;  for  while  its  wealth  enervated  its 
character  and  attracted  the  cupidity  of  its  neighbours,  it  did 
not  in  the  hour  of  strife  furnish  it  with  advantages  at  all 
commensurate  with  these  evils.  Hence  the  ruin  of  Carthage, 
Corinth,  and  Tyre,  the  great  centres  of  commercial  activity 
among  the  ancients.  Since,  however,  the  invention  of  gun- 
powder and  the  elaboration  of  military  machinery,  war  has 
become  in  a  great  measure  dependent  upon  mechanical 
genius,  and  above  all  upon  financial  prosperity,  and  the  ten- 
dency of  the  balance  of  power  is  therefore  to  incline  steadily 
to  the  nations  that  are  most  interested  in  the  preservation  of 
peace. 

The  influence  political  economy  exercises  in  uniting  dif- 
ferent communities  by  the  bond  of  a  common  interest,  is  also 
felt  in  the  relations  between  the  different  classes  of  the  same 
community.  It  is  indeed  no  exaggeration  to  say,  that  a  wide 
diffusion  of  the  principles  of  the  science  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial, if  democracy  is  to  be  other  than  a  fearful  evil.  For 
when  the  masses  of  the  poor  emerge  from  the  torpor  of  igno- 
rance, and  begin  keenly  to  examine  their  position  in  the  gra- 
dations of  society,  property  is  almost  certain  to  strike  them 
as  an  anomaly  and  an  injustice.  From  the  notion  that  all 
men  are  born  free  and  equal,  they  will  very  speedily  pass  to 
(he  conviction  that  all  men  are  born  with  the  same  title  to 
the  goods  that  are  in  the  world.  Paley  may  have  been 
i\  rong  in  regarding  general  utility  as  the  ultimate  basis  of 
the  rights  of  property,  but  most  assuredly  no  other  will  ob- 
tain the  respect  of  those  who,  themselves  struggling  with 
poverty,  have  obtained  a  supreme  authority  in  the  state. 
The  lonu"  series  of  measures  directly  or  indirectly  infringing 
on  the  rights  of  property  that  have  disgraced  the  democracy 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  343 

of  France,1  and  the  notion  of  the  natural  hostility  of  capital 
and  labour  which  is  so  general  among  the  labouring  classes 
on  the  Continent,  are  sufficient  to  cause  a  profound  disqui- 
etude to  those  who  have  convinced  themselves  that  democ- 
racy is  the  ultimate  form  of  political  development.  Political 
economy,  and  political  economy  alone,  can  remedy  the  evil. 
It  does  not  indeed  teach  the  optimism  or  the  fatalism  that 
some  have  imagined,  and  there  can  be  little  question  that  its 
ascendency  must  give  in  many  respects  new  directions  to  the 
channel  of  wealth,  repressing  forms  of  expenditure  which 
have  long  been  regarded  as  peculiarly  honourable,  and  which 
will  be  regarded  in  a  very  different  light  when  they  are  uni- 
versally acknowledged  to  be  useless  or  detrimental  to  so- 
ciety.8 Xor  does  it  teach  that  the  interests  of  rich  and  poor 

1  There  is  a  full  description  of  these  in  Chevallier's  Lctti-ts  surFOrganiw- 
fio>i  du  Travail — a  very  able,  and,  considering  that  it  was  written  in  1848,  a 
very  courageous  book. 

2  The  main  interest  of  the  poor  is  that  as  large  a  proportion  as  possible 
of  the  national  wealth   should  be  converted  into  capital,  or,  in  other  words, 
iliverted  from  unproductive  to  productive  channels.     Wealth  in  the  form  of 
diamonds  or  gold  ornaments,  retained  only  for  ostentation,  lias  no  efi'cct  upon 
wages.     Wealth   expended  iu  feasts  or  pageants   does   undoubtedly  directly 
benefit  those  who  furnish  them,  but  is  of  no  ultimate  good  to  the  community, 
because  the  purchased  article  perishes   unproductively  by  the  use.      \Wre  the 
sums  expended  in  these  ways  devoted  to  productive  sources,  they  would,  alter 
each  stieh  employment,  be  reproduced,  and  become  again  available  for  the 
purposes  of  society;  and  those  who  now  <rain  their  livinir  in  Mipplyimr  what 
is  useless  to  mankind  would  betake   themselves   to   the  enlarged  Held  of  pro- 
ductive enterprise.      But   this   train   of  reasoning   should  lie   corrected  by  the 
following  considerations:   1st.  Wealth  is  a  mean,  and  nol  an  end,  its  end  being 
happiness;  and  therefore  mere  accumulation,  with  no  further  object,  is  plainly 
Irrational.     Some  modes  of  exp-n  liture  i  .-udi  as  public  amusements),  which 
rank  very  low  indeed  \\hen  judged   by  one   te-r,  rank  very  hiirh  when  judged 
by  the  other.     The  intensity,  and   the  wide  diffusion  of  enjoyment   they  pro- 
luce,  compensate  for  their  transience.       iM.   There   is   .-uch  a  tiling  as   imma- 
terial production.     Exp.-nditure  in   the  domain  of  art    or   science,  which  adds 
nothing  to   the  material   wealili   of    the   communitv,    may   not    only   produce 
enjoyment,  but  may  become   the  source  of  enjoyment   and   improvement  foi 


44  NATIONALISM   IN   EUROPE. 

are  identical  in  such  a  sense  that  the  "wages  of  the  workman 
and  the  profits  of  his  employer  must  rise  and  fall  together, 
the  fact  being  rather  the  reverse.  Xor,  again,  that  a  gov- 
ernment is  altogether  impotent  in  regulating  the  distribution 
of  wealth,  for  the  laws  of  succession  and  the  direction  given 
to  taxation  have  in  this  respect  a  gigantic  influence.  AVhal, 
however,  it  does  prove  is,  that  the  wages  of  the  labourer  de- 
pend so  necessarily  upon  the  proportion  between  the  sum 
that  is  provided  for  the  payment  of  labour,  and  the  number 
of  those  among  whom  it  is  divided,  that  all  direct  efforts  of 
the  government  to  cause  the  permanent  elevation  of  wages 
are,  in  the  end,  prejudicial  to  the  very  class  they  are  intend- 
ed to  benefit.  It  proves  that  the  material  prosperity  of  the 
working  classes  depends  upon  the  increase  of  capital  being 
more  rapid  than  that  of  population,  and  that  this  can  only  be 
ensured,  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  continence  of  the  labourer 
guarding  against  excessive  multiplication,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  by  the  fullest  encouragement  of  production,  which  im- 
plies the  perfect  protection  of  capitalists;  for  lie  who  has  no 
assurance  that  he  may  retain  what  he  has  accumulated,  will 
either  never  accumulate,  or  will  conceal  his  property  unpro- 
ductively.  In  other  words,  political  economy  demonstrates, 
beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt,  that  if  the  property  of  the 
rich  were  confiscated  and  divided  among  the  poor,  the  meas- 

all  future  time.  3d.  The  great  incentive  to  production  i«  tho  desire  to  rise  to 
-die  higher  ranks,  and  the  great  attraction  of  those  ranks  to  the  majority  of 
men  is  the  ostentation  that  accompanies  them;  so  that  that  expenditure 
which  directly  is  unproductive  may  indirectly  he  highly  productive.  Besides 
this,  we  should  consider  the  effects  of  sudden  outbursts  of  luxury  at  different 
periods  of  history  and  its  different  influences  upon  morals,  ^o  stated,  the 
question  of  the  most  advantageous  expenditure  is  extremely  complicated,  and 
Varies  much  with  ditl'eivnt  circumstances.  As  a  general  rule,  however,  politi 
cal  economy  tends  to  repress  the  luxury  of  ostentation. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTOKY    OF    RATIONALISM.  o45 

tire  would  in  the  end  be  the  most  fearful  catastrophe  that 
could  befall  the  latter. 

This  great  truth,  that,  in  a  financial  point  of  view,  with  a 
very  few  exceptions,  each  nation,  trade,  or  profession  is  in- 
terested in  the  prosperity  of  every  other,  has  been  growing 
clearer  and  clearer  with  each  new  development  of  political 
economy,1  and  cannot  fail  to  exercise  a  vast  moral  influence 
upon  society.  For  though  concurrence  of  action  based  solely 
upon  community  of  interests,  considered  in  itself,  has  no 
moral  value,  its  effect  in  destroying  some  of  the  principal 
causes  of  dissension  is  extremely  important.  And,  indeed, 
human  nature  is  so  constituted,  that  it  is  impossible  for 
bodies  of  men  to  work  together  under  the  sense  of  a  com- 
mon interest  without  a  warm  feeling  of  amity  arising  be- 
tween them.  Common  aims  and  hopes  knit  them  together 
by  a  bond  of  sympathy.  Each  man  becomes  accustomed  to 
act  with  a  view  to  the  welfare  of  others,  and  a  union  of  af- 
fections usually  replaces  or  consecrates  the  union  of  interests. 
The  sentiment  thus  evoked  is  undoubtedly  a  moral  senti- 
ment ;  and  if  it  is  not  so  powerful  as  that  which,  is  elicited 
by  agencies  appealing  directly  to  enthusiasm,  it  is  more  gen- 
eral, more  uniform,  and  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  not  less  bene- 
ficial to  mankind. 

It  would  be  easy  to  show  that  political  economy,  by  re- 
vealing the  true  cause's  of  national  prosperity,  lias  effected, 
or  is  effecting,  a  considerable  alteration  in  many  of  our  moral 
judgments.  Such,  for  example,  is  the  change  in  the  relative 

1  At  least  til.  Say,  whose  Tl''>r'ic  '/••>•  r><'l»it<-h<'-s  (directed  against  the 
notion  of  a  '  universal  irhit,'  which  was  maintained  in  France  by  Sismondi 
and  in  England  liy  Mahh'.is)  may  he  regarded  as  the  highest  demonstration 
of  the  truth.  The  first  writer  who  intimati'd  the  identity  of  the  interests  of 
nation?  engaged  in  commerce  was  prol>aMy  I>udle\  >"orth,  in  his  famou? 
•vork  on  commerce,  piil>!Uhed  in  IG'.'l. 


346  EATIONALISil   IN   EUROPE. 

position  in  the  moral  scale  of  prodigality  and  avarice,  oi 
youthful  indiscretions,  and  of  imprudent  marriages ;  and 
such  too  are  the  important  modifications  introduced  into  the 
conception  of  charity  by  the  writings  of  Defoe,  of  Ricci,  and 
of  Malthus.  It  will,  however,  be  sufficient  for  my  present 
purpose,  to  indicate  the  predominating  bias  which  these 
speculations  produce,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  class  of 
opinions  and  the  tone  of  philosophy  they  are  most  likely 
to  favour.  On  this  point  there  can  be  little  doubt.  It  has 
been  again  and  again  recognised  that  political  economy 
represents  the  extreme  negation  of  asceticism. 

What  may  be  termed  the  ascetic  and  the  industrial  phi- 
losophies have  at  all  times  formed  two  of  the  most  important 
divisions  of  human  opinions  ;  and  as  each  brings  with  it  a 
vast  train  of  moral  and  intellectual  consequences,  their  his- 
tory touches  almost  every  branch  of  intellectual  progress. 
The  watchword  of  the  first  philosophy  is  mortification ;  the 
watchword  of  the  second  is  development.  The  first  seeks 
to  diminish,  and  the  second  to  multiply,  desires;  the  first,  ac- 
knowledging happiness  as  a  condition  of  the  mind,  endeavours 
to  attain  it  by  acting  directly  on  the  mind,  the  second  by  act- 
ing on  surrounding  circumstances.  The  first,  giving  a  great- 
er intensity  to  the  ,  emotions,  produces  the  most  devoted 
men  ;  the  second,  regulating  the  combined  action  of  society, 
produces  the  highest  social  level.  The  first  has  proved  most 
congenial  to  the  Asiatic  and  Egyptian  civilisations,  and  the 
second  to  the  civilisations  of  Europe. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  when  the  mo- 
nastic system  was  first  introduced  from  Egypt  into  Christen- 
dom,1 until  near  the  -Reformation,  the  ascetic  theory  was 


*  THE   INDUSTRIAL    HI8TOET   CJF   RATIONALISM.  34:7 

everywhere  predominant.  The  movement  that  was  provoked 
by  the  examples  of  St.  Anthony  and  St.  Pachomius,  and  by 
the  writings  of  St.  Jerome  and  St.  Basil,  received  its  full  or- 
ganisation about  two  centuries  later  from  St.  Benedict.  The 
Crusades  and  St.  Bernard  produced  the  military  orders ;  the 
teaching  of  St.  Bruno,  the  Carthusians ;  the  religious  struggle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Franciscans,  Dominicans,  and 
Carmelites;1  the  conflict  of  the  Reformation,  the  Theatines 
;md  the  Jesuits.  With  the  exception  of  the  last  century, 
during  which  some  opposition  had  arisen  to  the  monks,  this 
long  space  of  time  represents  the  continuous  elevation  of  the 
ascetic  principle  as  the  supreme  type  with  which  all  forms  of 
heroism  naturally  assimilated  or  coalesced. 

If  we  compare  this  period  with  the  last  three  centuries 
the  contrast  is  very  evident.  Formerly,  asceticism  represent- 
ed the  highest  point  of  moral  dignity,  and  in  exact  proportion 
as  a  society  was  stimulated  towards  its  conception  of  excel- 
lence the  monasteries  were  multiplied.  At  present,  the  abo- 
lition of  monasteries  is  an  invariable  concomitant  of  an  ad- 
vancing civilisation,  the  immediate  consequence  of  every  im- 
portant movement  of  national  progress.  Protestantism  was 
the  first  great  protest  against  asceticism;  but  the  process  of 
confiscation  which  it  initiated  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
which  \v;is  then  regarded  as  the  most  horrible  sacrilege,  has 

always  existed,  and  has  assumed  forms  very  similar  to  that  among  Christians. 
The  horrible  macerations  of  the  Buddhists  rival  those  of  any  Christian  sect, 
and  the  antipathy  to  the  fair  sex  is  nearly  as  great  among  the  pagan  a? 
among  the  Christian  anchorites.  Some  pagan  religionists  of  Siain  made  it  a 
lule  never  to  keep  hens,  because  those  animals  are  of  the  female  sex.  (li.xyle, 
Jt'ourellis  Ltltrffi,  lettre  xxi.)  Some  Christians  of  Syria,  with  t'nual  wisdom, 
resolved  never  to  eat  the  flesh  of  any  female  animal.  (Ibi<l.) 

1  The  Carmelites  had  existed  before  upon  Mount  Canm-1,  and  had  even 
traced  their  origin  to  the  prophet  Elijah  ;  but  they  were  transferred  to  Europe, 
reorganised,  and  greatly  multiplied  in  the  thirteenth  century. 


348  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

since  been  imitated  by  almost  every  Catholic  government  m 
Europe.  Not  only  France,  at  a  time  when  she  had  repu« 
diated  Catholicism,  but  even  Austria  and  Spain  have  pursued 
this  course.  Xo  less  than  184  monasteries  were  suppressed, 
and  ecclesiastical  property  to  the  value  of  more  than  two 
millions  of  florins  confiscated,  by  Joseph  II.  of  Austria: 
3,000  monasteries  are  said  to  have  been  suppressed  in  Eu- 
rope between  1830  and  1835  ;  187  in  Poland,  in  1841. '  And 
these  acts,  as  well  as  those  which  have  recently  taken  place 
in  Italy,  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  elicited  by  no  scandals 
on  the  part  of  the  monks,  but  were  simply  the  expression  of 
a  public  opinion  which  regarded  the  monastic  life  as  essen- 
tially contemptible  and  disgraceful. 

Of  this  industrial  civilisation,  political  economy  is  the  in- 
tellectual expression ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  it 
furnishes  a  complete  theory  of  human  progress  directly  op- 
posed to  the  theory  of  asceticism.  According  to  its  point 
of  view,  the  basis  of  all  intellectual  and  social  development 
is  wealth ;  for  as  long  as  men  are  so  situated  that  all  are 
obliged  to  labour  for  their  sustenance,  progress  is  impossible. 
An  accumulation  of  capital  is  therefore  the  first  step  of  civ- 
ilisation, and  this  accumulation  depends  mainly  on  the  nuil- 
liplication  of  wants.  When  the  inhabitants  of  any  country 
are  contented  with  what  is  barely  sufficient  for  the  support 
of  life,  they  will  only  perform  the  minimum  of  labour;  they 
will  make  no  steady  and  sustained  efforts  to  ameliorate  their 
condition,  and,  as  they  will  place  little  or  no  restraint  upoi. 
multiplication,  their  numbers  increasing  more  rapidly  than 
the  means  of  sustenance,  the  most  frightful  suffering  must 
ensue.  To  raise  that  people  from  its  barbarism,  the  first  es- 
sential is  to  make  it  discontented  with  its  condition,  As 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  34:5 

soon  as  the  standard  of  its  necessities  is  raised,  as  soon  as 
men  come  to  regard  as  necessaries  a  certain  measure  of  the 
comforts  of  life,  habits  of  parsimony  and  self-restraint  will 
be  formed,  and  material  progress  will  begin.  But  it  is  im- 
possible for  men  by  these  means  to  satisfy  their  wants.  The 
horizon  of  their  ambition  continually  recedes.  Each  desire 
that  is  accomplished  produces  many  others,  and  thus  new  ex- 
ertions are  elicited,  and  the  constant  development  of  society 
secured.  In  the  atmosphere  of  luxury  that  increased  wealth 
produces,  refined  tastes,  perceptions  of  beauty,  intellectual 
aspirations  appear.  Faculties  that  were  before  dormant  are 
evoked,  new  directions  are  given  to  human  energies,  and, 
under  the  impulse  of  the  desire  for  wealth,  men  arise  to  sup- 
ply each  new  want  that  wealth  has  produced.  Hence,  for 
the  most  part,  arise  art,  and  literature,  and  science,  and  all 
the  refinements  and  elaborations  of  civilisation,  and  all  the 
inventions  that  have  alleviated  the  sufferings  or  multiplied 
the  enjoyments  of  mankind.  And  the  same  principle  that 
creates  civilisation  creates  liberty,  and  regulates  and  sustains 
morals.  The  poorer  classes,  as  wealth,  and  consequently  the 
demand  for  their  labour,  have  increased,  cease  to  be  the  help- 
less tools  of  their  masters.  Slavery,  condemned  by  political 
economy,  gradually  disappears.  The  stigma  that  attached 
to  labour  is  removed.  War  is  repressed  as  a  lolly,  and  des- 
potism as  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  property.  The  sen>e 
of  common  interests  unites  the  ditlerent  sections  of  mankind, 
and  the  conviction  that  each  nation  should  direct  its  energies 
to  that  form  of  produce  lor  which  it  is  naturally  most  Muted, 
effects  a  division  of  labour  which  renders  each  dependent 
upon  the  others.  Under  the  influence  of  indu>trial  occu- 
pations, passions  are  repressed,  the  old  warlike  habits  are 
destroyed,  a  respect  for  la\v,  a  consideration  for  the  interests 


350  RATIONALISM   IN   EUEOPE. 

of  others,  a  sobriety  and  perseverance  of  character  are  incul- 
cated. Integrity  acquires  a  new  value,  and  dissipation  a  new 
danger.  The  taste  is  formed  to  appreciate  the  less  intense 
but  more  equable  enjoyments,  and  the  standard  of  excel- 
lence being  rectified  by  the  measure  of  utility,  a  crowd  of 
imaginary  virtues  and  vices  which  ignorance  had  engendered 
pass  silently  away. 

This,  or  something  like  this,  is  the  scheme  of  progress 
which  political  economy  reveals.  It  differs  essentially  from 
the  schemes  of  most  moralists  in  the  fact  that  its  success  de- 
pends not  upon  any  radical  change  in  the  nature  of  mankind, 
not  upon  any  of  those  movements  of  enthusiasm  which  are 
always  transient  in  their  duration  and  restricted  in  their 
sphere,  but  simply  upon  the  diffusion  of  knowledge.  Taking 
human  nature  with  all  its  defects,  the  influence  of  an  enlight- 
ened self-interest,  first  of  all  upon  the  actions  and  afterwards 
upon  the  character  of  mankind,  is  shown  to  be  sufficient  to 
construct  the  whole  edifice  of  civilisation  ;  and  if  that  prin- 
ciple were  withdrawn,  all  would  crumble  in  the  dust.  The 
emulations,  the  jealousies,  the  conflicting  sentiments,  the 
insatiable  desires  of  mankind,  have  all  their  place  in  the 
economy  of  life,  and  each  successive  development  of  human 
progress  is  evolved  from  their  play  and  from  their  collision. 
When  therefore  the  ascetic,  proclaiming  the  utter  depravity 
of  mankind,  seeks  to  extirpate  his  most  natural  passions,  to 
crush  the  expansion  of  his  faculties,  to  destroy  the  versatility 
of  his  tastes,  and  to  arrest  the  flow  and  impulse  of  his  nature, 
he  is  striking  at  the  very  force  and  energy  of  civilisation. 
Hence  the  dreary,  sterile  torpor  that  characterised  those  ages 
in  which  the  ascetic  principle  has  been  supreme,  while  the 
Civilisations  which  have  attained  the  highest  perfection  have 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  351 

been  those  of  ancient  Greece  and  modern  Europe,   which 
were  most  opposed  to  it. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  by  what  very  different  processes 
the  antipathy  to  asceticism  was  arrived  at  in  these  two 
periods.  In  the  first  it  is  to  be  ascribed  mainly  to  the  sense 
of  the  harmony  of  complete  development,  and  above  all  to 
the  passionate  admiration  of  physical  beauty  which  art  con 
tributed  largely  to  sustain.  The  statues  of  the  most  lovely 
were  then  placed  among  the  statues  of  the  goddesses,  and  the 
athletic  games  made  the  symmetry  and  beauty  of  the  manly 
frame  the  highest  type  of  perfection.  '  A  perfect  mind  in  a 
perfect  body'  was  the  ideal  of  the  philosopher,  and  the  latter 
was  considered  almost  a  condition  of  the  former.  Harmo- 
nious sustained  manhood,  without  disproportion,  or  anomaly, 
or  eccentricity — that  godlike  type  in  which  the  same  divine 
energy  seems  to  thrill  with  equal  force  through  every  faculty 
of  mind  and  body,  the  majesty  of  a  single  power  never  de- 
ranging the  balance  or  impairing  the  symmetry  of  the  whole, 
was  probably  more  keenly  appreciated  and  more  frequently 
exhibited  in  ancient  Greece  than  in  any  succeeding  civilisa- 
tion. 

Among  the  moderns,  on  the  other  hand,  the  law  of 
development  has  been  much  more  social  than  individual,  and 
depends,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  growth  of  the  industrial 
element.  If  we  examine  the  history  of  the  last  few  cen- 
turies, since  the  Italian  republics  revived  commerce  on  a 
large  scale,  or  since  the  Portuguese  for  the  first  time  founded 
a  great  colonial  empire  in  the  interests  of  industrial  enter- 
prise,1 we  find  that  these  interests  have  been  steadily  becuin- 


352  RATIONALISM   IN    EUROPE. 

ing  supremo  in  all  war,  legislation,  and  diplomacy,  and  that 
che  philosophy  of  utility,  which  is  the  most  faithful  expres- 
sion of  the  industrial  spirit,  has  attained  a  corresponding 
place  in  the  sphere  of  thought.  It  is  supported  by  the  as- 
cendency of  the  inductive  philosophy,  which  has  always  con- 
centrated its  efforts  chiefly  on  material  advantages.  It  is  sup- 
ported by  the  rapid  diffusion  through  all  classes  of  habits  of 
thought  derived  from  political  life,  which  is  the  consequence 
of  the  extension  of  political  liberty.  It  is  supported  too  by 
the  investigations  of  those  great  moralists  who  since  Cum- 
berland have  been  mainly  employed  in  proving  that  virtue  is 
a  condition  of  happiness,  from  which  men  have  illogically, 
but  not  unnaturally,  inferred,  that  that  which  has  no  utility 
can  have  no  moral  value.1 

The  immense  importance  of  utilitarianism  in  correcting 
the  evils  of  fanaticism,  in  calling  into  action  the  faculties 
which  asceticism  had  petrified,  and  in  furnishing  a  simple, 
universal  principle  of  life,  has  been  clearly  shown.  Its  capa- 
bility of  coalescing  with  received  theological  doctrines  can 
hardly  be  doubtful  to  those  who  remember  that  Paley  made 
it  the  corner-stone  of  his  moral  philosophy,  maintaining  that 
a  hope  of  future  reward  was  the  natural  principle  of  virtue. 
Indeed,  one  of  the  few  political  economists  who  have  endcav- 

of  population,  or  to  a  desire  when  vanquished  to  escape  servitude,  or  to  a  feai 
of  invasion,  or  to  the-  spirit  of  conque.-t.  The  substitution  of  the  industrial 
for  the  military  colonial  system  is  one  of  the  important  changes  in  history 
and  on  the  whole,  perhaps,  it  cannot  be  better  dated  than  from  the  Portu 
'••iiesc  colonial  empire,  which  Vasco  da  Gama  founded,  and  Albuquerque  con 
solidated. 

1  ,\  great  political  economist,  in  a  work  which  has  now  become  very  rare 
pays,  'Toute  verm  qui  n'a  pas  Futilitc  pour  objet  iinmcdiat  me  parait  futile 
ridicule,  pareille  a  cette  perfection  dc  Talapoin  qui  consiste  a  se  tenir  stir  UD 
ecul  pied  plusieurs  annees  de  suite,  on  dans  quelque  autre  mortification  miioi- 
blc  a  lui-meme,  inutile  anx  autrcs,  ct  que  son  Dieu  memc  doit  rcgarder  en 
I'itie.'  (J.  1!.  Say,  Olnic,  p.  Sl.J 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY    OF    RATIONALISM.  353 

ourcd  to  give  their  science  a  theological  complexion,  has 
argued  that  the  laws  of  economical  and  of  religious  progress 
are  identical,  being  self-denial  for  an  end.1  At  the  same 
time,  the  defects  of  such  a  system  are  sufficiently  manifest, 
and  they  are  in  a  great  measure  also  the  defects  of  rational 
ism.  Utility  is,  perhaps,  the  highest  motive  to  which  reason 
can  attain.  The  sacrifice  of  enjoyments  and  the  endurance 
of  sufferings  become  rational  only  when  some  compensating 
advantage  can  be  expected.  The  conduct  of  that  Turkish 
atheist,9  who,  beliving  that  death  was  an  eternal  sleep,  re- 
fused at  the  stake  to  utter  the  recantation  which  would  save 
his  life,  replying  to  every  remonstrance,  'Although  there  is 
no  recompense  to  be  looked  for,  yet  the  love  of  truth  con- 
straineth  me  to  die  in  its  defence,'  in  the  eye  of  reason  is  an 
inexplicable  folly  ;  and  it  is  only  by  appealing  to  a  far  higher 
faculty  that  it  appears  in  its  true  light  as  one  of  the  loftiest 
forms  of  virtue.  It  is  from  the  moral  or  religious  faculty 
alone  that  we  obtain  the  conception  of  the  purely  disinter- 
ested. This  is,  indeed,  the  noisiest  tiling  we  possess,  the 
celestial  spark  that  is  within  us,  the  impress  of  the  divine 
image,  the  principle  of  every  heroism.  AVherc  it  is  not 
developed,  the  civilisation,  however  hi^h  may  be  its  <jeneral 
average,  is  maimed  and  mutilated. 

In  the  long  series  of  transformations  we  have  reviewed, 
there  are  two  which  have  been  eminently  favourable  t<>  (his, 
the  heroic  side  of  human  nature.  The  substitution  of  the 
philosophical  conception  of  truth,  for  its  own  sake,  for  the 
theological  conception  of  the  <jfuilt  of  error,  has  been  in  this 
respect  a  clear  'jain  ;  and  the  political  movement  which  had 
Ftsulted  chiefly  from  the  introduction  of  the  spirit  of  rational- 


351  RATIONALISM   IX   EUKOPE. 

ism  into  politics,  has  produced,  and  is  producing,  some  of  the 
most  splendid  instances  of  self-sacrifice.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, it  can  hardly  be  doubted,  that  the  general  tendency  of 
these  influences  "is  unfavourable  to  enthusiasm,  and  that  both 
in  actions  and  in  speculations  this  tendency  is  painfully  visi- 
ble. With  a  far  higher  level  of  average  excellence  than  in 
former  times,  our  age  exhibits  a  marked  decline  in  the  spirit 
of  self-sacrifice,  in  the  appreciation  of  the  more  poetical  or 
religious  aspect  of  our  nature.  The  history  of  self-sacrifice 
during  the  last  1800  years,  has  been  mainly  the  history  of  the 
action  of  Christianity  upon  the  world.  Ignorance  and  error 
have,  no  doubt,  often  directed  the  heroic  spirit  into  wrong 
channels,  and  have  sometimes  even  made  it  a  cause  of  great 
evil  to  mankind  ;  but  it  is  the  moral  type  and  beauty,  the 
enlarged  conceptions  and  persuasive  power  of  the  Christian 
faith,  that  have  chiefly  called  it  into  being,  and  it  is  by  their 
influence  alone  that  it  can  be  permanently  sustained.  The 
power  of  Christianity  in  this  respect  can  only  cease  with  the 
annihilation  of  the  moral  nature  of  mankind  ;  but  there  are 
periods  in  which  it  is  comparatively  low.  The  decay  of  the 
old  spirit  of  loyalty,  the  destruction  of  asceticism,  and  the 
restriction  of  the  sphere  of  charity,  which  has  necessarily 
resulted  from  the  increased  elaboration  of  material  civilisa- 
tion, represent  successive  encroachments  on  the  field  of  self- 
sacrifice  which  have  been  very  imperfectly  compensated,  and 
have  given  our  age  a  mercenary,  venal,  and  unheroic  charac- 
ter, that  is  deeply  to  be  deplored.  A  healthy  civilisation 
implies  a  double  action — the  action  of  great  bodies  of  men 
moving  with  the  broad  stream  of  their  ago,  and  eventually 
governing  their  leaders;  and  the  action  of  men  of  genius  or 
heroism  upon  the  mas>es,  raising  them  to  a  higher  level,  sup- 
plying them  with  nobler  motives  or  more  comprehensive 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HIST6EY   OF   EATIONALISM.  355 

principles,  and  modifying,  though  not  altogether  directing., 
the  general  current.  The  first  of  these  forms  of  action  is  now 
exhibited  in  great  perfection.  The  second  has  but  little 
influence  in  practice,  and  is  almost  ignored  in  speculation. 
The  gradual  evolution  of  societies,  the  organised  action  of 
great  communities  under  the  impulse  of  utilitarian  motives, 
is  admirably  manifested;  but  great  individualities  act  seldom 
and  feebly  upon  the  world.  At  the  same  time,  the  history 
of  speculative  philosophy  exhibits  a  corresponding  tone. 
There  has  ahvays  been  an  intimate  connection  between 
utilitarianism  and  those  systems  of  metaphysics  which  great- 
ly restrict  and  curtail  the  original  powers  of  our  nature, 
regarding  the  human  mind  as  capable  only  of  receiving, 
arranging,  and  transforming  ideas  that  come  to  it  from  with- 
out. Those  who  hold  that  all  our  ideas  are  derived  from 
sensation,  will  always,  if  they  are  consistent,  make  utility 
the  ultimate  principle  of  virtue,  because  by  their  system  they 
can  never  rise  to  the  conception  of  the  disinterested ; ]  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  will  be  usually  found  that  the  sensual 
school  and  the  materialism  which  it  has  produced,  have 
arisen  in  periods  when  the  standard  of  motives  was  low,  and 
when  heroism  and  pure  enthusiasm  had  but  little  influence. 
In  our  present  absolute  ignorance  of  the  immediate  causes  of 
life,  and  of  the  nature  and  limits  of  mind  and  matter,  this 
consideration  furnishes  perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  argu- 
ments in  favour  of  spiritualism  ;  and  it  is  as  an  index  of  the 
moral  condition  of  the  aixe  that  the  prevalence  of  either 
spiritualism  or  materialism  is  especially  important.  At  pres 

1  A?  Madame  de  Stacl  said,  l  La  inornle  fondiV  sur  I'intrivt,  si  fortrmeiit 
prechee  par  les  eerivains  francais  du  dernier  sleek1,  est  dans  une  connexion 
intiine  avec  la  rnetaphysique  qui  attnbne  tuutes  nos  idees  a  des  sensations' 
(L'Alleniafjne\  I  believe  all  who  are  conversant  with  the  history  of  pliiloso 
phy  will  aeknowledge  this  to  be  profoundly  true. 


356  KATTONALISir   IX    EUROPE. 

ent,  the  tendency  towards  the  latter  is  too  manifest  to 
escape  the  notice  of  any  attentive  observer.  That  great 
reaction  against  the  materialism  of  the  last  century,  which 

O  •>   f 

was  represented  by  the  ascendency  of  German  and  Scotch 
philosophies  in  England,  and  by  the  revival  of  Cartesianism 
in  France,  which  produced  in  art  a  renewed  admiration  for 
Gothic  architecture;  in  literature,  the  substitution  of  a  school 
of  poetry  appealing  powerfully  to  the  passions  and  the 
imagination,  for  the  frigid  intellectualism  of  Pope  or  of 
Voltaire  ;  and  in  religion,  the  deep  sense  of  sin,  displayed  in 
different  forms  both  by  the  early  Evangelicals  and  by  the 
early  Tract arians,  is  everywhere  disappearing.  In  England, 
the  philosophy  of  experience,  pushed  to  the  extremes  of 
Hume,  and  represented  by  the  ablest  living  philosopher  in 
Europe,  has  been  rising  with  startling  rapidity  to  authority 
and  has  now  almost  acquired  an  ascendency  in  speculation. 
In  France,  the  reaction  against  spiritualism  and  the  tendency 
towards  avowed  materialism,  as  represented  by  the  writings 
of  Comte,1  of  Kenan,  and  of  Taine,  are  scarcely  less  powerful 
than  at  the  close  of  the  last  centiiry ;  while,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Schoppenhauer  and  of  Buchner,  even  Germany  itself, 


1  It  is  indeed  true,  that  a  first  principle  of  the  Positive  school  is  the  asser- 
tion that  the  limit  of  human  faculties  is  the  study  of  the  successions  of  phe- 
nomena, and  that  we  are  therefore  incapable  of  ascertaining  their  causes  ;  and 
M.  Littre,  in  his  preface  to  the  recent  edition  of  Comte's  works,  has  adduced 
tliis  principle  to  show  that  I'ositivism  is  unaffected  by  arguments  against 
materialism.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  leading  rositivists  have  been 
avowed  materialists  ;  the  negation  of  the  existence  of  metaphysics  as  a  science 
di-tinct  from  phv.-ioloLry,  which  is  one  of  their  cardinal  doctrines,  implies,  or 
all  but  implies,  materialism  ;  and  the  tendency  of  their  school  has,  I  think, 
of  late  years  been  steadily  to  snb-titute  direct  negations  for  scepticism.  There 
are  some  good  remarks  on  this  in  a  very  clear  and  able  little  book,  called  7<e 
Mfiii-ri'tlixitit  (_'<j'i<l'ii<]>r'i-<jin>,  by  1'aul  Janet,  a  writer  on  whom  (>inee  Sais-et 
dicdj  the  defence  of  Spiritualism  in  France  seems  to  have  mainly  devolved. 


THE   INDUSTRIAL    HISTORY   OF   RATIONALISM.  357 

so  long  the  chosen  seat  of  metaphysics,  is  advancing  with  no 
faltering  steps  in  the  same  career. 

This  is  the  shadow  resting  upon  the  otherwise  brilliant 
picture  the  history  of  Rationalism  presents.  The  destruction 
of  the  belief  in  witchcraft  and  of  religious  persecution,  the 
decay  of  those  ghastly  notions  concerning  future  punish- 
ments, which  for  centuries  diseased  the  imaginations  and 
embittered  the  character  of  mankind,  the  emancipation  of 
suffering  nationalities,  the  abolition  of  the  belief  in  the  guilt 
of  error,  which  paralysed  the  intellectual,  and  of  the  asceti- 
cism which  paralysed  the  material,  progress  of  mankind,  may 
be  justly  regarded  as  among  the  greatest  triumphs  of  civili- 
sation ;  but  when  we  look  back  to  the  cheerful  alacrity  with 
which,  in  sonic  former  ages,  men  sacrificed  all  their  material 
and  intellectual  interests  to  what  they  believed  to  be  right, 
and  when  we  realise  the  unclouded  assurance  that  was  their 
reward,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  we  have  lost  something 
in  our  progress. 


INDEX. 


A  BELAHO,  standard  of  impartial  philoso- 

A.    phy  planted  by,  i.  71 

Aberdeen,  injunction  of  the  synod  of,  re- 
specting witches,  i.  145 

Absarus.  king  of  Kdessa,  portrait  and  letter 
of  Christ  to,  i.  2'29 

Abinielech,  Bossuct  on  the  name,  ii.  1S1  note 

Abyssians,  their  superstitions  respecting 
potters  and  blacksmiths,  i.  <J?  note 

Acontius  (Acanacio),  his  life  and  writings, 
ii.  57  note 

Actors,  stiinna  attached  to  them  in  ancient 
times,  ii.  2SS,  2!H).  300.  Attempts  of  Ne- 
ro to  relieve  them,  2S8  note.  The  actor 
Aliturus  and  tlio  actress  Kucharis,  -JSS 
note.  St.  Genetus,  the  patron  saint  of 
actors.  2'.Hi  no1(.  Actors,  ho\v  regarded 
by  the  Church.  3iH.  The  sacraments  de- 
nied to  them.  300.  307.  The  stigma  upon 
actors  removed  in  a  great  degree  by  Vol- 
taire. 30',).  Removal  of  their  disqualifica- 
tions by  the  l-'rench  Involution,  ii.  80'.) 

Adam,  the  siu  of,  according  to  the  Cabalists, 
i.  (J7  note 

Adonis.  Greek  statues  of.  i.  -213 

Adrian  VI..  Pope,  his  bull  airaiust  witch- 
craft, i.  3-2 

JKons.  origin  of  the  central  doctrine  of  the, 
lit'  the  (inostics.  i.  40  note 

Aerolites  probably  worshipped  in  ancient 
<.reec.\  i.  -243 

Agobard.  St..  archbishop  of  Lyons,  opposes 
the  popular  belief  in  sorcery,  i.  (',.">.  i'.0. 
His  ell'orts  in  di>pelling  superstition.  231. 
His  work  denouncing  the  idolatry  of  im- 
:iu'e  wurs!iip.  '232 

Agricultural  interests,  their  conflict  with 
manufacturing  interests,  ii.  :'.•_'•!.  Media- 
val  preference  for  agriculture,  "-4.  The 
sup.  rior  productivity  of  agriculture  as- 
serted l>v  Adam  Smith,  but  re- luted  by 
liicardo.330.  :;,31 

Asrrippa,  Cornelius,  regarded  as  a  sorcerer, 
i.  lo'.i.  Notice  of  hi>  career,  ll'i  no', 

AxpoAtfloi.  the  ancient  (.reek  wooden  statues 
with  marble  heads  so  called,  i.  -J4.'  »-//,• 

AH'i-'en^e-;.  in,i>-aere  of  the.  in  the  twelfth 
century,  i.  71.  Suecc-s>  of  perseeii!  ion 
shown" in  the  case  ot'  the.  ii.  14.  1'.  rind  of 
the  iua--acre.  ;it!.  The  crime  iUbUiMted 
by  a  pop.-.  I-'. 


Alcaz.ar  of  Seville,  arcliitectnral  beauties  (A 
the,  i.  236 

Alexander  II.,  Pope,  his  liberality  to  the 
Jews,  ii.  2m 

Alexander  III.,  Pope,  confirms  the  'Truce 
of  God'  as  a  general  law  of  the  Church, 
ii.  10S  note 

Alexander  IV.,  Pope,  his  bull  confiscating 
the  goods  of  heretics,  ii.  44  note 

Alexander  VI.,  Pope,  his  liberality  to  the. 
Jews.  ii.  264  note 

Alexander  VII.,  Pope,  on  money-lending,  ii. 
248  note 

Alexandria,  the  introduction  of  pictures 
forbidden  by  Some  Christians  of,  into 
their  churches,  i.  '233 

Alexandrian  or  N.-o-Platonic  school,  its 
theories,  i.  40.  Its  influence  over  early 
Christianity.  40  nutc 

Alhambra,  character  of  the,  ornamentation 
of  the.  i.  '230  not<> 

Aliturus.  the  Ji-wi.-li  actor,  ii.  2SS  note 

Allegiance.  Oath  of.  despotic  maxims  em- 
bodied in  the.  ii.  177.  Abolition  of  this 
clause.  177  note 

Ambassadors,  probable  oritrin  of  resident, 
ii.  -2-1 

Ambrose.  St..  miracle  related  of,  i.  05.  His 
protest  against  the  execution  of  some 
heretics,  ii.  33 

America,  cases  of  witchcraft  in.  in  tlie  Sev- 
enteenth century,  i.  1:17.  Protestant  per- 
secutions of  the  I  'atholics  and  iniak.rs  in. 
ii.  49.  Slavery  in.  compan-d  with  that  of 
the  Creeks  and  Romans.  L'-.'.") 

Amsterdam,  one  great  cause  of  its  pros- 
perity, ii.  'J73 

Amulets',  value  attributed  by  fetishism  U'. 

i.   L'Oi'p 

Amitlo.  archbishop  of  Lyons.  IT'S  view  of 
•  .ottes.-iialk'ff  opinions  aa  to  double  pre- 
destination, i.  ;''-"'  »"'<• 

Amusements,  publie,  intlm-ncc  of  wealth 
and  luxury  upon  the  character  of.  ii.  •_'-.;, 

Allahapti.-tS    per-ee!ltion  of.  in    Kll_'l.;!ld.   1111- 

d'T  (^ii-eii  Kii/abeth.  ii.  47.  And  in 
>\\  itzerlaT.d.  -I'.'.  IV-iMon  as<;^-n' d  to 
th.-m  by  Uossiie:.  i'o.  Tl..  ir  i.nrii.n  o;'tl;i» 
-lee;,  ,',f  the  .-oul  betu.-.-H  d-ath  and 
i:id_'inein.  7V  nuti.  (.'.i!\m'-  book  a.-.iiust 
it.  71'  iii'tc 


360 


IKDEX. 


Anesthesia,  a  symptom  of  some  of  the 
forms  of  madness,  i.  124 

Ancyra.  Council  of.  condemns  the  belief  in 
lycanthropy,  i.  96 

Angel,  St.  Augustine  on  the  meaning:  of  the 
word.  i.  47  note.  Pagan  genii  identified 
with  guardian  angels,  215.  One  assigned 
by  the  Talmud  to  every  star  and  every 
element,  2S9.  This  notion  represented  in 
oid  Christian  painting  and  sculpture.  2-9 
note.  Gradual  decline  of  this  belief,  2S9. 
Anzels  universally  believed  to  have  co- 
habited with  the  'daughters  of  the  ante- 
diluvians. 343 

Aflgelico,  Fra.  his  character  and  that  of  his 
works,  i.  246 

Anglicanism,  the  old  Puritan's  description 
of.  ii.  47  note.  Servility  and  enmity  of,  to 
public  liberty.  174.  "Lord  Macaulay  on 
the  subject  quoted,  174  note.  '  Homilies 
on  Wilful  Rebellion  '  quoted.  174.  Every 
reaction  supported  by  it.  177.  Excep- 
tional position  of  Hooker.  17S.  Predispo- 
sition of  Anglicanism  towards  despotism, 
l-o.  Anglican  notions  on  allegiance  to 
the  sovereign  de  fac.to.  1S3  note.  Its 
treatment  of  the  theatre.  311 

AnL'lo-Saxons.  their  measures  for  alleviating 
the  condition  of  slaves,  ii.  231 

Animals,  belief  in  the  connection  between 
evil  spirits  and.  i.  95.  Use  made  of  ani- 
mals in  Christian  symbolism.  05  note. 
Ascription  of  intelligence  to  animals  in 
tin'  middle  ages.  96  note.  Mystic  ani- 
mals amonL'  the  Celts.  00  notf.  '  Innkeep- 
ers who  were  said  to  have  turned  their 
guests  into  animals,  07  note.  The  higher 
f i  inns  of  animal  beauty  appreciated  by  the 
Greek  sculptors.  230  note.  Descartes' 
doctrine  of  animals,  i.  346  note.  Stahl 
founds  the  psychology  of  animals,  346 
note 

Antony.  St..  miracles  related  of.  i.  156.  157 

Anthropomorphism,  the  second  staee  of  re- 
ligions belief,  i.  207.  The  government  of 
the  universe  then  ascribed  by  men  to  be- 
in<.rs  like  themselves,  21 '7.  Hut.  unable  to 
concentrate  their  attention  on  the  Invisi- 
ble-, they  fall  into  idolatry.  20o.  Progress 
of  anthropomorphism.  -17.  Conclusion 
of  the  anthropomorphic  impulse  shown 
by  St.  Peter'.-  at  Koine.  207 

Anfiphons,  legendary  m-i-in  of.  ii.  300 

Antipodes,  controversy  in  the  early  Church 
a-  to  the  existence  of  the.  i.  275.  Correct 
doctrine  stumbled  upon  by  the  Maiiiehn- 
-.111  s.  275.  Existence  of  the  Antipodes  de- 
nied by  the  Fathers.  27.".  276.  And  by 
Cosnias  in  his  •  Topographia  Christiana.' 
276.  Their  existence  asserted  bv  St.  Vir- 
L'iliiis.  2-0 

ipelles.  j.ainted  Lais,  i.  254 

ipocahptic  subjects  in  Christian  art.  i 
•JIO 

Ai.oilo.  in  Creek  statues,  the  tvpe  of  male 
i  <  auty.  i.  L'4:J 

L'.  ;ii',:ri!io',;s.  tlie  belief  '-.n.  one  of  the  conur- 
V; ones  of  t lie  p-veholn-v-  of  the  Fatliers.  i. 
:>A\.  Predisposition  of 'the  (.-reeks  to  set- 
ghosts.  .".-11  note.  Apparitions  seen  by  the 
ancient.-.  342 

Apple-,  the  supposed  especial  jio\ver  of  the 
4evil  over,  i.  30  riots 


Aquatic  deity,  pagan  representation  of  an, 
adopted  by  Christian  art.  i.  214 

Aquinas.  St.'Thomas,  his  belief  in  the  power 
of  the  devil,  i.  &S.  On  the  connection  be- 
tween spirits  and  animals,  07  note.  On 
infant  baptism.  361  note.  His  notion  of 
the  locality  of  hell,  346  note.  His  re- 
marks in  favour  of  persecution,  ii.  12.  His 
assertion  of  the  right  to  rebel  against  un- 
just sovereigns.  144  His  views  respect- 
ing usury,  252.  His  remarks  on  the  Jewg, 
265.  His  'Histriones'  quoted,  292  and 
note 

Arabs,  influence  of  their  work?  on  the  intel- 
lectual energies  of  Christendom,  ii.  2S4 

Arcadius.  the  emperor,  suppresses  the  woiks 
of  Eunomius.  ii.  118 

Archer*.  English,  their  skill,  ii.  205 

Architecture,  the  only  form  of  art  open  to 
the  Mahometans,  i!  286.  The  Alhambra 
and  Alcazar  of  Seville.  236.  The  works  of 
Greek  architects  at  Eavenna.  Venice,  «ke., 
246.  Introduction  of  the  form  of  the  cros? 
in  the  ground  plan  of  churches.  250  note. 
Transition  which  took  place  in  architec- 
ture. 262.  Period  of  the  origin  of  Gothic 
architecture.  262.  Fitness  of  Gothic  ns 
Christian  architecture,  263.  Hutchinson 
on  the  causes  of  the  ancient  preference  of 
Gothic  to  Itonian  architecture,  264  notf. 
Style  altered  by  JJrunelleschi.  265.  Su- 
periority of  Gothic  architecture  for  dis- 
tances, and  its  influence  on  the  staire.  ii 
302 

Arians.  ascendency  of  the,  in  the  Fast,  in 
the  reisrn  of  Valens.  i.  57.  Their  persecu- 
tions, ii.  22.  Intolerance  of  the  Spanish 
Arians.  22  note.  Persecuted  by  Coiiston- 
tine.  23.  Persecutions  of,  under  Elizabeth, 
ii.  51 

Aristocratical  system,  its  influence  in  con- 
solidating the  doctrine  of  hereditary  mer- 
it, i.  35S 

Aristotle,  his  position  in  the  Church  in  tho 
middle  ages  owinz  to  the  early  heretics,  i. 
8-0  note."  His  views  respecting  the  exer- 
cise of  mechanical  arts.  ii.  224.  And  re- 
spectins  slavery.  225.  On  the  sterility  of 
money.  251 
'  Arras,  trials  at.  in  1459.  i  25  note 

Art.  the  mo,t  faithful  expression  of  religious 
realisation,  during  tile  continuance  of 
idolatry,  i.  2oO,  Influence  of  the  national 
religions  on  the  art  of  the  ancients.  2'i'J. 
Tlie  art  of  the  Catacombs,  and  its  freedom 
from  idolatry.  '.'11.  Klt'ect  of  Pa_'an  tradi- 
tions upon  Christian  art.  210.  Its  freedom 
from  terrorism  in  early  times.  212.  lls 
great  love  of  svmbolism.  '-'13.  Symbol  ot 
the  peacock.  213.  And 'of  Orpheus.  2J  1 
Examples  of  the  introduction  of  pagan 
gods  into  Christian  art.  214  nrtfr-.  Masks 
of  (lie  sun  and  moon  as  emblem?  of  the 
resurrection.  214.  'I  IK-  Pacran  genii  of  the 
sea.-ons  as  L'liarilian  angels,  'J15.  Tlie 
symbol  of  the  tisli  (i,\&i:s).  215.  And 
of  the  St. •!£.'.  215.  other  subjects  taken 
from  (.ild  'lesiament  symbols.  216.  Causes 
of  the  growing  tendency  to  represent  di- 
rei-tly  the  object  nf  worship.  '-'1'i.  I'or- 
traits  of  God  the  Father.  217.  Materiali- 
sation of  every  spiritual  conception  rroni 
the  sixth  to  the  twelfth  centuries,  2T7, 


INDEX. 


361 


Influence  of  Gnosticism  over  Christian 
•rt,  '217.  Progress  of  the  representation 
of  the  Creator  in  art,  219,  Influence  of 
the  Apocryphal  Gospels,  222.  Probable 
<;nostic  origin  of  the  conventional  cast  of 
features  ascribed  to  Christ,  222.  Influence 
of  painting  and  sculpture  in  strengthening 
Mariolatry,  225.  Architecture  the  only 
f'irm  of  art  open  to  the  Mahometans,  23(1. 
Cliaricter  of  Christian  art  in  the  middle 
ages.  237.  Gold  and  silver  carving,  and 
Ivory  diptychs,  237  nott.  Illumination 
of  manuscripts,  237.  Influence  of  medie- 
val modes  of  thought  upon  art,  23S  note. 
Period  in  which  the  ascetic  ideal  of  ugli- 
ness was  most  supreme,  241  note.  The 
Abbe  Pascal  on  medieval  art,  241  note. 
The  work  of  Bishop  Durandus,  241  note. 
Greek  idolatry  fading  into  art.  241.  Its 
four  stages,  242.  A  corresponding  transi- 
tion in  Christendom,  244.  Greek  influ- 
ence on  Christian  art.  244.  In  Italy,  244 
note.  Effects  on  art  of  the  tradition  of 
the  personal  deformity  of  Christ.  24,5. 
The  Byzantine  style  broken  by  a  study  of 
ancient  Grevk  sculpture.  246.  Chri-tinn 
school  of  (liotto  and  i'ra  Angelico.  24(i.  A 
general  elllorcscencc  of  the  beautiful  pro- 
duced by  the  revival  of  learning  in  Ku- 
rope,  247.  Apocalyptic  subjects.  249. 
Progress  of  terrorism  in  art.  250.  Kelig- 
ious  paintings  regarded  simply  as  studies 
of  the  beautiful.  252.  Causes  of  this  sectv 
larisation  of  art.  252.  Influence  upon  art 
of  sensuality.  254.  And  of  oriental  robes, 
255  note.  Influence  of  the  discovery  of 
many  great  works  of  pagan  sculpture, 
256.  History  of  Greek  art  after  the  rise 
of  Christianity,  257.  The  types  of  Chris- 
tian rephiced'by  tho".o  of  Pagan  art.  259. 
lieaction  in  favour  of  spiritualism  led  by 
Savonarola.  2iio.  Kapidity  of  the  secular- 
isation uf  art  after  the  death  of  Savonarola. 
'Jill.  Nrver  afterwards  assumed  a  com- 
manding influence  over  the  iiiinds  of  men, 
2G2.  Transition  which  look  p];;'-'-  in  arrli- 
iteefure.  2«12.  Intellectual  importance  of 
the  history  of  art.  267 
Ascetism.  >'•  <•  Monastieism 
Asses,  feast  of.  ii.  295.  (  ninin  of  the.  296  note 
Astrologers,  called  Mathematici.  i.  65  mitt 
Astro]. i_rv.  revival  ot  the  pa.-sjon  for.  in  the 
middle  ag.  s.  i.  7".  M.  Comte's  remarks 
on.  as  :i  science.  2-4.  Peter  of  Apono's  ;,t- 
tempt  to  ci.nsiruct  a  svstem  of  religions 
by  the  aid  of.  2M  mite.  '  Cai-d;:ii  and  Yi'ii- 
ini's  horoscope  uf  Chri>t.  2-4  //"/< .  Bo'lin 
on  the  ini'iiciiee  of  tin.-  -Tars,  over  the  de- 
velopment of  societies.  2-1- 
Istronomony  displaces  the  ancieTit  notion 
:(  man's  position  in  the  universe,  i.  2--. 
Beauty  of  the  suirirvslion  of  I  ir.  <  hdliii-rs 

lespeL'ting  insii_rniiiea>i( I'  the  ear;!:.  '--5 

Ttfit  .  View*  of  the  ancient  a-tronom  i- 
as  to  the  motion  of  the  celestial  bo. lie-.  2-5 
m>tf.  Cause  of  tile  growth  of  the  .-ci.-nce 
of  astronomy.  2->.  Copernicus.  Kep'er. 
(ialileo.  and  Tycho  Ural:.-.  2—.  Hes- 
rartes'  tlienry  of  voniceS,  2-'.i.  Counts. 
'290.  Halley's  prediction  of  their  revolu- 
tion. 2'.'1.  Laplace  on  tl.e  'ir^unu-n!  of 
design  derived  from  the  ii!oiioii>  of  ihe 
planetary  bodies.  -.".17  nutt 

33 


Atheism,  Glanrii1s  character  of,  in  Lis  time, 
i.  134  note.  Loose  senses  in  which  the 
word  atheism  has  been  used.  134  note 

Atmospheric  disturbances  attributed  to  the 
power  of  the  devil,  and  of  witches,  i.  91 

Augury,  how  punished  by  the  Kmpeior 
Cbnstantins,  i.  53 

Augustine,  St.,  on  the  meaning  of  the  word 
angel.  1.  47  note.  Regarded  lycanthropy 
as  a  fable,  96.  97  note.  On  the  mlriV.les 
worked  by  the  relics  of  St.  Stephen,  178 
nntf.  His  defence  of  the  Genesis  agr.'ir.st 
the  Mauielueans,  273.  His  opinion  of  the 
incorporeity  of  the  soul,  342  note.  His 
remarks  on  the  existence  of  mice,  845 
note.  His  view  of  infant  baptism,  362. 
His  views  as  to  the  condemnation  of  all 
external  to  the  Church.  37<1.  The  theory 
of  predestination  substantially  held  by 
St.  Augustine,  i.  8-3.  The  theology  of 
persecution  systematized  by  him,  if.  29. 
Notice  of  his  character  and'  influence.  29, 

30.  His  aversion  to  the  effusion  cf  blood, 

31.  Condemns  religious  liberty.  32  note 
Authority,  examination  of  the  basis  or  prin- 
ciple of.  on  which  all  political  structures 
rest.  ii.  131! 

Averroes.  influence  of.  over  the  whole  intel- 
lect of  Europe,  i.  71.  1I<  nan's  essay  on, 
71  note.  Orgaana's  picture  of.  at  Pisa.  71 
nnte.  Impulse  given  to  psychology  by 
the  school  of.  343' 

Avitus,  St..  his  verse  on  infant  baptism 
quoted,  i.  3<13  note 

Ayala.  Balthazar,  his  defence  of  tyrannicide 
under  :>ome  circumstances,  ii.  liio 


pACCTII'S.   in  Greek   statues,   a  type   of 

D     disgraceful  elteminacy.  i.  243 

Bacon.  Lord,  his  view  of ' witchcraft,  1.  124. 

Influence  of  his  philosophy  on  it?  decline, 
12 \  On  the  cau-e  of  the  "paralysis  of  the 
human  faculties  in  the  middle* ages.  2vi. 
Knlightennient  of  his  ai_-e.  292  note.  Ilia 
inability  to  grasp  the  diseoveries  of  t!:o 
astronomers  of  his  time.  2'.'2  /n>t?.  Cannes 
of  his  influence.  H'o.  4"1.  Cariiinirs  of  tha 
Tractarian  parly  at  the  inductive  phi!o:o- 
]ihy  of  Bacon.  4i'8  aolf 

Bacon.  HoL'er.  his  pcr>eculion.  !.  2-2.  IP.- 
lluence  of  Arabian  learning  over  him.  ii. 
2-4 

Bagpipes,  praistd  by  Julian  in  one  ol  his 
epigrams  i.  -jr:!  i/^f,- 

Ballot,  the.  advocated  by  Han-ir-ton  in  the 
seventeenth  ceiitmy.  ii.  145  //.•', 

Baliimoiv.  I.onl.  upho!iis  religions  Viberty, 
ii.  5;' 

Bamb'  r_'.  L'tvat  iiumt  er  of  \vi;chc's  burn;  :i% 
i.  L".' 

BaHir-m.  t'e!i^-h  no;i..ns  in  the  .  arly  <  l:urrh 
re-]-ee;ii:ir  t!:e\\a'.r  of.  i.  2'  t  I'i,;.:iiin- 
itv  of  the  r'ather-  coneerniiiL'  t!.e  j.on- 


302 


INDEX. 


the  Council    of   Trent,  366     Conflicting  Becket,  St  Thomas  a,  hymn  on  the  Virgil 

tendencies  on  the  subject  produced  by  the  ascribed  to,  quoted,  i.  224  note 

Reformation,  365.     Effects  of  the  Anabap-  Bedell.  Bishop,  respect  with  which  he  wa« 

tis<  movement.  365.     Cases  of  baptism  by  treated  by  the  rebel  Catholics,  ii.  16.    His 

sand  and  wine,  360  note.    Doctrines   of  life,  by  Alexander  Clogy,  1C  note 

the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  367.     The  Beelzebub,  regarded  as  the  god  of  flics,  i.  94 

doctrine  of  original  sin  rejected  by  Soci-  note 

nus.  372.     By '  Zuiuglius,  373.     And  by  Begards,  sect  of  the,  i.  344 

Chillingworth    and    Jeremy  Taylor,  374  Belgium,  monkish  origin  of  many  of  the 

note  towns  of.  ii.  232     First  mercantile  estnb- 

Barbarians,  conversion  of  the,  causes  idol-  lishments  in.  2S1 

atry  to  become  general,  i.  230  Belief,  religious,  fetishism  probably  the  fi;st 

Barberiui,  Cardinal,  his  musical  parties,  h  stage  of,  i.  204.    Anthropomorphism  tho 

808  note  next  stage,  207 

Barclay.  William,  first  denied  the  power  of  Bellarmine,  Cardinal,  one  of  his  argumontt 

the  Pope  over  the  temporal  possessions  of  in  favour  of  persecution,  ii.  28  note.    His 

princes,  ii.  164  note.    On  lawful  resistance  support  of  the  Pope's  riirht  to  depose  sov- 

to  tyranny,  Isl  ereigns,  147.    His  work  burnt  in  Paris, 

Baroni.  Leonora,  her  sinirins.  ii.  30?  note.  '      147 

Milton's   Latin  poems  addressed  to  her,  Bells,  church,   supposed  invention    of.  by 

3f>S  note  Paulinus,  i.  262 

Bartholomew.    St.,   success   of  persecution  Benedict  XIV.,  Pope,  his  definition  of  usury, 
shown  in  the  case  of  the  massacre  of,  ii.  ii.  247  note.    His  decree  against  it.  257 
14.     Heaven  thanked  by  a  Pope  for  the  Benedictines,  their  services  in  making  la- 
massacre  of,  45  bour  honourable,  ii.  232 

Bartholomco,  Fra,  influence  of  Savonarola  Bentham,  Jeremy,  his  part  in  the  movement 
over  him,  i.  261                                                ,      for  the  mitigation  of  the  severity  of  the 

Basil.   St..   devotion    of   the  monks  of,  to  penal  code,  i.  351.     On  usury,  ii.  251  note. 

painting,  ii.  232  Gives  the  ueath-blow  to  the  usury  laws, 

Baxter.  Richard,  his  defence  of  the  persecu-  260 

tion  of  witches,  i.  33.  126.     His  account  of  Berkeley.  Bishop,  helps  by  his  writings  the 

the  death  of  Lowes,  126  note.     His  vain  cause  of  toleration,  ii.  77.     His  proposal 

endeavours  to  revive  the  belief  in  witch-  to  admit  Catholjcs  into  a  Protestant  Uui- 
craft  by  accounts  of  witch  trials  in  Ameri-  ,      versity.  124  note.    His  sentiments  on  pas 

ca.  13S.     His  work  answered  by  llutchin-  sive  obedience.  176  note 

son,  139.     His  view  of  religious  liberty,  ii.  Bernard,  St.,  his  rejection  of  the  doctrine  of 

79  the  Immaculate  Conception,  i.  225  note 

Bayle.  his  view  of  witchcraft,  i.  116.     His  Beronice.  the  name  given  by  early  Christian 

attempt  to  overcome  the  popular  supersti-  tradition  to  the  woman  healed  of  an  issue 

tions  respecting  comets.  291.     His  works.  of  blood,  i.  221  note.     This  woman  one  of 

and  those  which  best  show  his  genius.  291  the  principal  types  among  the  Gnostics, 

1 1 iitt      His   remorks  on  the  tendency  of  221  note 

theologians  to   condemn   error  more   sc-  Beza,  on  predestination,  i.  o^7.     Advocates 

vercly  than  immorality.  315  note.      His  the  lawfulness  of  persecution,  ii.  5o.     His 

denunciation    of  torture.   333   note.     The  answer  to  Castellio.  .">0 

character  of  Bavle  regarded  as  the  scepti-  Bianchi.  his  work  '  On  licclesiastical  Power," 

0:1 1  scholar,  ii.  64.     His  influence  on  roiig-  ii.  141  note 

ious    liberty   in   France,   i>4.     His   -Con-  Bibbiena.  Cardinal,  his  play  of  the  'Calan- 

trains-les    d'«-ntrer.'    64.      Arguments   by  dra.'  ii.  299.     Portraits  of,  by  Raphael,  2','9 

winch  his  principles  were  developed.  67,  note 

ON     His  advocacy  of  the  doctrine  of  pas-  Biblical  interpretation  and   criticism.     St« 

sive  obedience.  212.     The  'Avis  aux  lie-  Scriptural   Interpretation 

fiiLicz'  ascribed  to  him.  212  note  Bil>on)  Bishop    his  Ajiolocry  for  the  policy 

Bayonet,  importance  of  the  invention  of  the,  of  Queen  Klizabeth  towards  the  Catholics, 

to  democracy,  ii.  2'i7  ii.  4S  nole.     Maintains  the  sinfulness  of 

Bear-baiting,  not  formerly  regarded  as  in-  toleration.  4^  nuti- 

bninan.  i.  :'o7,  :;i»s  Binsi'eldius,  hi-  opposition  to  the  belief  it 

Bears,  dancinir.  their  connection   with   the  lycanthropy.  i.  ;i>  nn/,- 

devil,  i.  96  >/(>(e  Bishops,  election  of.  in  the  early  Churf  h.  ii 

Reaiiniarchais.  his- charity,  ii.  23-1  note  140 

Beamy,  dreek  wor-'iip  of  every  order  of.  i.  Black  death,  a  cau-e  of  the  tendency   tr\v- 

2-°.'.i.     Beauty  of  some  of  the  hiirher  forms  ards  luxury.  ;i.  275 

o;  animal  life,  displayed  in  Greek  M-ulp-  Blacksmiths.'    Abyssinian    superstition    re- 
lure.    2^19    naif.      Departure    of  ineili;ev;d  spedim-.  i.  9-  ,,,,tt- 
IU-T  fro:  u  the  beautiful.  241.     A  jviieral  ef-  B]:iekw...,,i.  ,,11  lawful  resistan  :e  to  tyranny, 

flol-ei-cclice    Ot'tlie    1  -e:H  I !  iflll  t  i  jc    nsult    of 

the     iv\ival     of     leaniini'     in     F.i.rope,  Biancliot.  Peter,  his  farce  of '  Patelin.' .i.  297 
247.       Ir.llu.-nce     of     Mj'.uptiious     b 

upon  art.  256  nal;.     The  feeling  of  n-vef-  J.o'lin.  Jo                        IVP  of  the  belief  in 
i  nee  irradually  etieroaelieil   upon   and  a!i- 
sori'ei]  by  tiiat  of  b.-a'ity.  2''>-- 
Peccaria.  his  oDpo.-itiMi:  to  i.e-.m-e  in   Irdy. 


INDEX. 


363 


reywence  for  the  Old  Testament,  151  note. 
His  notion  of  the  influence  of  the  stars 
over  the  development  of  societies,  283 
note.  His  study  of  the  Roman  law,  ii. 
194.  His  view  of  the  regal  power,  1!)4 

Body,  the  human,  contrast  between  the 
iiacrau  and  Christian  estimate  of,  i.  '240 

B'coiians,  their  dislike  of  commerce,  ii.  224 

B')guet,  president  of  the  tribunal  of  St 
Claude,  his  executions  for  lycauturopv,  i. 
117 

Boliiiirbroke,  Lord,  causes  of  the  oblivion 
into  which  his  works  have  passed,  i.  11M). 
Inimical  to  liberty,  ii.  20t> 

Bollandist,  collection  of  Lives  of  the  Saints, 
i.  15S  note 

Bonaventura,  St.,  his  Psalter,  in  use  at 
Koine,  i.  227  note 

Boniface,  St.,  his  attack  on  St,  Yinrilitis,  i. 
2UO 

Boots  -with  pointed  toes  supposed  to  have 
been  inoffensive  to  God.  i.  7S 

Bossuet,  attacks  Zniuirlius'  notion  of  ori_'i 
n.il  sin.  i.  373  note.  Asserts  the  doctrine 
of  salvation  only  in  the  Church,  3b2. 
Position  assigned  by  him  to  Sociuians  and 
Anabaptists,  ii.  Co 

Botticelli,  the  painter,  influenced  by  Savon- 
arola, i.  2til 

Bonrdeaux,  J)e  Lancre's  sucrjrestion  as  to 
the  cause  of  witchcraft  about,  i.  30  note 

Bratieas,  Madame  do,  her  performance  of 
the  character  of  Geometry,  ii.  2!»S  -note 

Brephotrophia,  or  asylums  for  children,  in 
the  time  of  Justinian,  ii.  2:!:! 

breccia,  Inquisition  riots  in,  ii.  117 

Bridles,  witches',  or  iron  collars  used  for 
extorting  confession,  i.  14ti  noli' 

Brocderscn,  his  work  on  usury,  ii.  257 

Browne.  Sir  Thomas,  his  belief  in  the  exist- 
ence of  witchcraft,  i.  1-4  net''.  12!) 

Bruges,  luxury  of,  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, ii.  275 

Brunelleschi,  his  influence  on  Italian  arch- 
itecture, i.  2(i."> 

Bruno,  his  philosophical  speculations,  i.  \»\. 
liiirut  alive.  4'U 

Bri!\vre.  La.  his  opinions  and  influence  on 
the  subject  of  witeheratt.  i.  11 'I 

Buchanan.  Geonrc.  his  i'rotestant  liberal- 
ism, ii.  171  His  praise  of  the  tyrar.ni- 
ci'Ies  of  aiili'juiiy.  171.  17'-'.  Influence  of 
his  t-acl.  •!)!•  •lure  Ilci'iii  apiul  Seoto.,.' 

i'.a 

Buckle,  on  the  disbelief  in  witcheraf;  in 
i-Ji'.-Iaud.  i.  !:!>.  On  the  Scotch  Keforma- 
tioii,  ii.  170 

l>uil-b;Uiii!_',  not  formerly  regarded  a*  in- 
human, i.  o"7.  Its  silent  extinction 
.•moti'.'st  the  upper  classes.  ;;o:>.  I'.- 
feiided  by  Canning  and  U"iiid:i:;iu.  '•'•  -'7 
tint,-.  The  unsuccessful  warfap'  wau'edby 
t!ie  Popes  a--iinst  :-pamsl.  1  ull-ii-'.:!  >.  -"'S 
»nt,.  Opposition  of  the  Je~-.it  Mariana. 
:!H>  HO/.-.  The  -feat  buli-fu'li!  of  i:;:;:j  at 
Home.  :!IN  ,,.,/f  ' 

B'^iiTiirer.  his  approval  of  the  IUUP!I  r  of 
Srve!us.  ii.  .">•_ 

Bui'L'hi  :>.  privileges  of.  in  t;:e  i:.i.'..!le  au%  s. 
ii.  -.'-'.i  ni'f,- 

Bur.'os.  miracle   if  the  crucilix  at.  i.  1-~'7. 

B::niet.  i'i-'.iep.  !iis  i;:..-:-a.isiu.  ii.  1~"  />•  ?'' 

Bur'.  C.i!'t..iji.  0:1  o;,'.  worieii  tui'iii:1.-'  t!,i-;ii- 


selves  into  cats,  \.  14?.  note.    His  account 
of  the  belief  in  witchcraft  in  Scotland  in 
his  time,  151 
Butler,  on  eternal  punishments,  i.  383 


/CABALA,  the  Hebrew,  i.  67  note 

V  Cabalis.  views  of  the,  respectins  de- 
mons, i.  49  note.  Doctrines  and  bciiefn 
of  the.  60.  The  mystic  union  of  Cabalis- 
tic philosophers  and  sylphs.  G7 

Cagliostro,  the  prophecies  of,  attributed  to 
supernatural  airency,  i.  119 

Cainits,  their  reverence  for  the  oppom  iti 
of  the  Jewish  religion,  i.  220  note 

Calahorra,  witches  put  to  death  at.  1  87 
nute 

Calvin.  John,  his  notions  on  witchcraft,  1. 33 
noff.  His  view  of  infant  baptism.  307 
note.  His  part  in  the  Euchnristic  contro- 
versy. 378.  His  view  of  the  doctrine  of 
Salvation  only  for  those  in  the  Church, 
•-'M.  Advocates  the  lawfulness  of  perse- 
cution, ;i.  50.  Applauded  for  burning 
Servetus.  52.  His  answer  to  Casttilio'a 
denunciation  of  predestinarianism.  55. 
His  book  against  the  Anabaptists'  notion 
of  the  sleep  of  the  soul  between  death 
and  judgment,  79  note.  His  inclinatiou 
to  the  republican  theory  of  government, 
K,9.  His  views  of  money -lendinjr,  250. 
His  severity  against  the  th.eatre.  3lo  nutt. 

Canning.  George,  his  defence  of  bull-baiting, 
i.  3U7  no/e 

Capel.  Lord,  his  dving  words  on  passive 
obedience,  ii.  l-l  'note 

Capital,  the  increase  of.  one  of  the  circum- 
stances that  prepared  the  deiiiceraey  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  ii.  2ol.  I-uporr- 
ance  to  the  poor  of  converting'  wcaltr 
ir.to  ca]iital.  34:1  note 

Capital  punishment,  opposition  of  Bishop 
Berkeley  to.  i.  :!5'l.  Beeearia  advocated 
its  abolition.  :150 

C.-irdan.  his  iioroseope  of  ChH-t.  1.  2-^1  >i'-tr 

Carmai.'nola  and  the  Italian  condot  tieri.  ii. 

Carmelites,  their  history,  ii.  "4!>  >mfi' 

Cartliatre.  Couneil  of.  proiiouiiees  'be  dam- 
nation of  the  luathen.  i.  :)77.  Third  and 
Fourth  Councils  of.  condemn  iisurv.  ii. 
'.'47  »>.ff 

CarviiiL' on  :_-o!d  ni:d  sllvi  r.  l.ow  pn  •,  rve.l 
in  the  middle  aires.  i.  2o7  ;"•'-.  Carved 
ivorv  dipt}  ehs.  '_':',7  imt,- 

Casaul.ou.  M'eric.   his  d.  f.  nee   .  !   :'  •-   belief 

Ca  —  in.i.    Monte,    sel i    of    (,rei  k     inos:.fi 

artist  s  established  at.  i.  -.:-7 

jn.-iiee   of  e\eeution>  for  n ilci.eratt.  i.  :'.', 


An-wer,  d  by  l  alvin  :Mid  1'.  r  .  ">.  1';  i- 
tl-.-ts  1-eaped'  ujio!!  l::m  by  C;i!vi!'.  "."  n<  '>' 
Ills  end.  ':•>'< 

C.it::"0inl  -.  tombs  of  the  ,x,  ;•>•'-•-  ir  *V 
i.  r.o  ,,.,/,.  The  ar:  01"  ll;,  e..'::.  "ii:K-:i'!p 
L'etlu-r  reinovi-ii  from  'd"'..itry.  -I'..  I'niy 

liol!1.-.     J'.  1.       -'   -'     ;:.     ';'J    i\e'..;-i-  L    I-!'     all 


364 


INDEX. 


Imagea  of  sorrow,  suffering,  and  venge-  ' 
ance,  212.  Great  love  of  symbolism  | 
evinced  by  the  art  of  the  catacombs.  213 

Cathari,  a  sect  of  Gnostics,  their  efforts  to 
subdue  the  propensities  of  the  body,  i. 
240 

Catholicism,  Roman,  traces  of  the  com- 
promise between  Christianity  and  Pagan- 
ism in.  i.  CO.  Identification  of  startling 
natural  phenomena  by  the  priests  with 
acts  of  rebellion  against  themselves,  03. 
The  continuance  of  miraculous  power 
still  maintained  by  the  Church  of  Koine, 
15o.  But  the  sense  of  the  miraculous 
on  the  decline  among  the  great  body  of 
educated  Catholics,  159,  1G2.  nationalis- 
tic tendencies  in  Koman  Catholic  coun- 
tries, 184.  Reflections  on  St.  Peters  at 
"Rome  as  a  memorial  of  the  decay  of  Ca- 
tholicism, 205.  Torture  employed  by 
Catholics  during  the  reiim  of  Mary,  833 
iiote.  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Koine 
respecting  infant  baptism  as  enunciated 
by  the  Council  of  Trent.  300.  Early  Ca- 
tholicism perfectly  in  accordance  with  the 
intellectual  wants  of  Europe,  ii.  80.  Pe- 
riod when  it  became  the  principle  of  ret- 
rogression. 38.  And  when  coercion  was 
matured,  33.  Establishment  of  the  In- 
•misition,  massacre  of  the  Albigenses.  and 
injunction  of  the  Fourth  Council  of  (he 
Lateran.  3S.  Atrocity  of  the  persecution 
perpetrated  by  Catholicism.  40.  A  greater 
amount  of  unmerited  suffering  inflicted 
by  the  Church  of  Rome  than  by  any  oth- 
er religion  that  has  ever  existed,  40. 
Persecution  of  Catholics  under  Elizabeth, 
47.  Catholic  and  Protestant  persecutions 
compared,  57.  Growth  of  relisrious  lib- 
erty in  France  always  opposed  by  the 
Church,  74.  Attempts  of  Ramcnnais  to 
associate  Catholicity  with  the  movement 
of  modern  civilisation.  74.  Catholicism 
proscribed  by  the  English  Common- 
wealth, 78.  Milton's  reasons  for  exclud- 
ing Catholics  from  toleration.  S2.  Period 
of  the  undisputed  ascendency  of  Catholi- 
cism in  Europe.  ]H7.  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion. 123.  Endowment  of  the  college  of 
Mavnooth.  12;!.  Pr-.p".-  d  of  P.ishop 
Berkeley  to  admit  Catholics  into  a  Prot- 
estant univi  r.-rit;> .  I'-'-!  naif,  Kevi-. -w  of 
the  Ultramontane  party.  1  !<>.  The  \vorks 
of  Bellarmirie  and  Sii.uvz  burnt  :ti  Paris, 
147.  Teaching  of  Fr-;i<-h  Catholicism  as 

to  the  indepeiid  •; oi'  tin-  civil   pouvr, 

IfiO.  In  its  earlier  sta-o  tile  Catholic 
Church  the  rcpre^-ntative  of  prcirrcsK, 
20s.  Natural  incapacity  of  Catholicism 
to  L'liide  the  democratic-  movement  in 
the"  eighteenth  century.  211.  Her  im- 
placable enmity  to  tol'-ratiou.  212.  Etli-et, 
of  the  prohibition  of  n.-ury  in  Catholic 
countries.  253  tmlc 

ilat-i,  his  remark  nil  celibacy,  i.  '.i'.> 

Cuts,  old  women  turning  themselves  into,  i. 
14"!  note 

l/'auses.  ultimate,  failure  of  tlie  mind  of 
man  in  discovering,  i.  2H7. 

Cavalry  :  change  in  tin.-  relative  position  of 
cavalry  and  i/ifaiitry  in  war.  ii.  205 

C'ecehino,  the  hyile.juin,  notice  of,   ii.  297 


Celibacy  rcc-arded  is  the  highest  form  of 
virtue,  i.  9S.  The  old  writers  respecting 
women,  09.  Influence  of  the  celibacy  of 
the  monks  in  strengthening  Muriolatry, 
224 

C<dlini.  Benvenuto,  his  combination  of  im- 
morality and  piety,  i.  391 

Celso.  Minos,  his  work  attributed  to  Bc-lliug, 
ii.  57  note 

Celts,  their  ascription  of  intelligence  to 
animals,  i.  90  note 

Censorship,  abrogation  of  the.  in  Knglani 
^ii.  S7.  A  literary  censorship  directed 
"against  heretical  writings  after  the  aboli- 
tion of  punishment  for  heresy,  118.  Dio- 
cletian. Julian,  Constantine,  and  Arcndius, 
US.  Beginning  of  licenses.  119.  Convo 
cation  and  the  Star  Chamber,  119 

Cerebration,  unconscious,  instances  of,  ii 
95,  90  note 

Ceres,  in  Greek  statues,  a  type  of  snmmei 
and  of  maternal  love,  i.  243. 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  his  suggestion  respecting 
the  earth,  i.  2S7  note 

Chance,  games  of,  why  prohibited,  i.  2S7. 
old  opinions  on  the  subject  of  lots,  287 
note.  Gataker's  work  on  the  natural  laws 
of  lot,  2s7  iiote 

Charity  of  the  early  Christians,  ii.  233. 
Long  period  that  elapsed  before  it  was 
appreciated,  235 

Charlemagne,  his  strinirent  laws  against 
sorcerers,  i.  Go.  His  contemptuous  disic- 
gard  of  the  decrees  of  the  Second  Coun- 
cil of  Nice.  23H 

Charles  V.,  Emperor,  number  of  Dutch 
heretics  put  to  death  during  his  reign,  ii. 
41.  Magnificent  position  of  Spain  under 
his  government,  311.  His  employment 
of  gold  in  his  wars,  315.  His  dishonest 
tampering  with  the  coinage.  310  note 

Charles  IX..  of  France,  alleged  cause  of  his 
early  death,  i.  1 10 

Charms,  reverence  of,  fetishism,  i.  207 

Charron,  his  famous  treatise  on  'Wisdom,1 
i.  115.  3:13  iinte.  His  denunciation  of  tor- 
ture in  France.  ">33.  His  advocacy  of  the 
doctrine  of  passive  obedience,  ii.  212 

Chemistry,  its  separation  from  alchemy,  i 

Child.  Sir  .losinh,  his  defence  of  the  mercan- 
tile system,  ii.  327  mile 

Chilling-worth.  William,  causes  of  his  join- 
in::  theChirch  of  Rome.  i.  l>o.  Uc'jcCts 
original  sin.  371  null-.  Helps  by  his  writ- 
ings the  cause  of  t-.Ien1! ion.  ii.  '77.  7 -5 

Chocolate,  importation  of.  into  Europe,  ii. 
321 

Chrl-t.as  represented  in  C]>ri<-tin:i  art  In-fore 
and  after  the  twelfth  century,  i.  71.  J'.arly 
symbols  of.  215.  Probable  Gnostic  oritrih 
o't  tlie  conventional  cast  of  features  ascrib- 
ed to  ChrM.  222.  No  authentic  portrait 
of  Christ  in  the  time  of  St.  AiiL'UStine. 

223  initf.     The  fiiv-l   notice  in  writing  of 
the  resemblance  of  Christ  t<>  his  mother, 

224  mitt:      The    intake    at    Panccas,    229. 
Mosaic  poi  trait  preserved   :n   the  church 
of  St     I'raxed,-.  at    Rome,   2:!7  nofc-.     Tim 
tradition  of  his  deformity,  245.     The  forg- 
ed   letter    of    Eentulus"  to    the    Roman 
Senate  on  his  appeanince.  215  iiotc.     C:ir 
iJan->  horo>e,j[,<.-  of  him,  2?4  noli: 


305 


Shrlstianlty:  the  early  Christians  in  the 
Roman  empire,  i.  44.  Paganism,  how  re- 
garded by  tliem,  4.5.  Influence  of  the 
Alexandrian  or  Neo-Platonic  school  over 
them.  46  note.  Exorcists  among  them, 
4!>,  15fi  nut  i'.  Terror  which  the  doctrine 
of  demons  must  have  spread  among  them, 
50.  The  title  '  enemies  of  the  human 
race1  transferred  from  the  Christians  to 
the  magicians.  54.  Magical  character  at- 
tributed to  Christian  rites,  55.  The  mir- 
acle of  St.  llilarion,  55,  56.  Policy  of  the 
early  Christians  towards  the  magicians, 
K).  Compromise  between  Christianity 
and  Paganism,  GO.  Change  in  the  twelfth 
Century  in  the  popular  teaching,  73.  In- 
fluence of  rationalism  on  Christianity, 
V.)i).  Examples  of  fetish  notions  in  the 
early  Church.  -2(14.  Singularly  touching 
and  sublime  character  of  the  early  Church, 
212.  Its  symbolism  as  evinced  in  early 
Christian  art,  -113.  Triumph  of  Christian- 
ity by  absorbing  and  transforming  old 
systems  rather  than  annihilating  them. 
223.  Distinctive  type  and  tone  of  Chris- 
tianity banished  from  art.  and  replaced  by 
tvpes  of  paganism.  25!!.  Originality  of 
the  moral  type  of  Christianity,  oil.  'Heal 
character  and  test  of  the  Christian  religion, 
829.  IJonndlcss  philanthropy  of  modern 
Christianity,  84S.  The  sense  of  sin  ap- 
pealed to  most  strongly  bv  Christianity. 
856.  First  congelation  of  the  moral  sen- 
timents of  Christianity  into  an  elaborate 
theology,  3,V>.  Belief-  of  the  early  C  'hurch 
that  all  external  to  Christianity  were 
doomed  to  damnation,  3liu.  Triumph  of 
Christianity  in  the  Human  empire  on  the 
condition  of  tran.-tbrming  itself  under  the 
influence  of  the  spirit  of  sect.  ii.  ]oil 
Passive  obedience  of  the  earlv  Christians, 
]:J7.  140.  Synthesis  of  tin-  "moral  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  and  Paganism.  22o. 
Christianity  (he  most  ettVetive  opponent 
of  the  evil'  of  slavery.  22-.I.  The  ferocity 
of  manners  corrected  by  the  creation  of 
Christian  charily.  '-'•>-  Long  period  that, 
elapsed  before  the  preeminent  services  of 
Christian  charity  were  appreciated.  -'•'••\ 
Creat.  developllient  of  sclt'-saerilice  by 
Cliri-lianily.  2:17.  Position  of  public 
amusements  in  the  earlv  his  tor  v  of  Chrin- 
lianity.  2-'.» 

rhry.-o-totn.  St..  on  women,  i.  !>'.» 

Chm-eh  ami  State  theory,  the,  in  England 
and  France,  ii.  121 

Church.  Dr.  Thomas,  his  answer  to  Middlc- 
ton's  attack  on  the  veracitv  ol  tbe  Fa- 
thers.  i.  172 

Cicero,  his  idea  of  the  soul.  i.  :1-IO 

Ciniabiie.  joy  of  the  Florentines  at  one  of 
his  pictures  of  the  \  irgin.  i.  -<•'•'• 

Ciineiilo.  Accadeinia  del,  c-tabli.-hnient  of 
the.  in  Tuscany,  i.  'JVi' 

Chviimeellionc-.  their  turbulence,  and  per- 
secution by  CoiiMantinc.  ii.  •_'•') 

3'vilisution. 'effect  of.  in  destroying  the  lie- 
lief  in  the  niiraeuloi.s.  i.  ir,2.  It*  power 
on  contempoiary  as  compared  with  his- 
torical miracle:-,  "li>2 

Classical  writing.-,  aeiinn  ol'  the  revival  of 
the.  on  liheriy.  ii.  !','-  \:>  aiteriii:'  I  no 
tyj)e  of  iKroiMii.  !',"•.  A;u  ::ij>;-  in  i,i"i:;J 


them  into  the  imago  of  the  mediae 
val  conceptions,  11KS.  This  tendency 
ridiculed  by  Ulrica  von  Hutten  and  Rabe- 
lais,  IDS  note.  Effect  of  the  revival  of 
classical  learning  in  Europe,  2s5 

Clebergius,  his  objection  to  all  forms  of  per 
secution,  ii.  5(5  note.  Passages  from  his 
writings  quoted,  57  note 

Clemens  Alexandrinus,  on  ladies  uslniz 
looking-glasses,  i.  «:«!  in/te.  Admits  the 
jiossibility  of  the  salvation  of  pagans,  877 
note 

Clement,  the  Dominican  friar,  his  muidiM 
of  Henri  111.  of  France,  ii.  151.  Ap- 
plauded for  his  act,  101 

Clement  V.,  Pope,  removes  all  prohibitions 
against  bull-fighting  in  Spain,  i.  3(1;  note 

Clement.  St..  miracle  related  of.  i.  95 

Clergy,  opinion  that  they  should  not,  undei 
any  circumstances,  cause  the  death  of 
men.  ii.  :)•'!.  Toleration  denounced  by  all 
sections  of  the  clergy.  59.  Religious"  lib- 
erty favoured  by  the  marriage  of  the  Prot- 
estant clergy.  <y.  Attitude  of  the  clergy 
of  England  respecting  religious  liberty 
during  the  Revolution,  SH,  >7.  Contest 
between  the  regal  and  ecclesiastical  power, 
'us.  Jilow  struck  at  the  power  of  the 
clergy  by  the  suppression  of  the  monas- 
teries, 125.  Disappearance  of  the  clergy 
from  public  ollices,  220.  Cruelty  of  the 
Spanish  clergy  to  the  .lows,  2iis 

Clogy.  Alexander,  his  life  of  Bedell,  ii.  16 
riofe 

Clnteii.  Joachim.  'Do.  HaTCticis  per.-equen- 
dis.'  ii.  55  note 

CotVee.  introilnetion  of.  into  Europe,  ii.  822 

Coinage,  results  of  tampering  with  the,  it 
:;ir,  nut,' 

Colbert,  his  wipprcssion  of  ex(cntions  for 
witchcraft,  i.  117.  And  of  acciir-atioiis  for 
sorcery.  11^.  His  services  to  mauufac- 
turi'S.  ii.  ojii.  M.'T 

Collier,  tlereinv.  his  work  <in  the  stage,  ii. 
UK! 

Cologne,  tir.uvrsity  of.  its  condemnation  of 
a  ratioiiali.-tie  spirit  in  some  priest*  of 
the  diocese,  i.  1M4.  Attempt  of  the  In- 
if,ii-i!ion  at.  to  de-troy  the  whole  litera- 
ture of  the  .lews  except  the  liible.  ii.  ll'.t 

C'olonies.  Mib>titution  of  industrial  for  mil- 
itary, ii.  o.M  »nte 

Comets,  effect  of.  on  (lie  superstitions  of  the 
dark  ages.  i.  til.  Work  of  Fromundtia 
and  Fieni  on.  i.  2-o  not,'.  Siiper-tiiiniis 
re-'pec-ting  them.  2'.'ii.  Ravo's  statement 
of  t  he  propi;i-i  le  character  of  e^tnets.  21'il 
lint,-.  Alt'  inpis  to  explain  them  in  a 
rai  ionalistie  manner."',"'.  And  of  1'ara- 
(••  IsilS  and  U:l\  le  to  llp^e'  'l,e  super-:  Itii'lK 
Ve-]irelilig  tin  111.  2*.'l.  CoIlletS  relIl"VC.I 

iiitii  the  domain  of  law  by  lialley.  21'i. 
The  tail  of  a  comet  consi<fercd  by 'W his- 
ton  to  be  the  locality  of  hell.  :l4i'.  m-ff 

Commerce  and  trade",  how  regard,  d  by  thrt 
liiiei^-nt-.  ii.  •_'.!.  It-  intere-ts  give  ri»>  to 
eoi).-;i!s!.i]i-.  ii.  L'IV.'.  Its  imluenee  in  had- 
ing nii-n  i"  toleranee.  "ii-J.  C.'mm.  rcial 
activity  of  the  ,le\\s.  27..  K.ipid  inereast! 
of  coiiinu'rce  in  I'.urop'  ,  --1 

C'oinnioiiweaUli.  gr. -it  111:111!  er-  of  execu- 
tions for  \\  iiehci':.lt  in  England  dtirins.' the^ 
i.  !•-'.">. 


366 


IXDEX. 


Como,  number  of  sorcerers  pnt  to  death  at,  '  Crucifixion,  passion  for  represenlatons  of 

in  one  year.  i.  31  the.  i.  '241.     Abolition  of,  as  a  servile  pun. 

Conception,  the  Immaculate,  first  appear-  '      ishment.  ii.  229 

ance  of  the  doctrine  of,  i.  225.    St.  Angus-  ;  Crusades,  their  influence  in  strengthening 

tine   on.  quoted,  224  note.     Adopted  by  !      Mariolatry.  i.  225.     Influence  of  the  Cm- 

the  Mahometans,  225  note.     Rejected  by  .       sadcs  on  "the  theological  government  of 

St.  Bernard  as  novel,  225  nota  political  affairs,  ii.  107.     Compared  with 

Concina  on  the  history  of  usury,  ii.  256  note,  the  relicious  wars  of  the  Reformation,  109. 

257  note  Influence  of  thu   Crusades  on  industry, 

Confessions   of   witches,    how   extorted  in  240 

Scotland,  i.  146  note  Cudworth,  Ralph,  his  defence  of  the  be.ief 

Constance,  great  numbers  of  witches  burnt  in  the  existence  of  witchcraft,  i.  130 

at,  i.  31  Cybele,   the   mother  of   the  pods,   day  on 

Constance.  Council  of,  its  denunciation  of  which  her  feast  was  celebrated,  i.  224 

the  right  to  slay  tyrants,  ii.  150  Cyprian  commands  the  devil  to  assail  a  re- 

Constantine,  the  Emperor,  his   severe   law  Ik'ious  maiden,  i.  C2.     His  view  of  the 

against  secret  magic,  i.  52.     His  destruc-  condemnation  of  all  external  to  the  Church, 

tion  of  pagan  statues,  25S  note.     His  per-  -      876.    The  Levitical  laws  regarded  by  him 

seditions  of  Jews  and  heretics,  ii.  22.  23.  as  the  foundation  for  the  punishment  of 

His  policy  towards  the  pagans.  24.     De-  .      heretics,  ii.  ^ 

stroys  the  books  of  the  Arians.  IIS.     Le-  Cyprus  stated  by  Xider  to  have  been  peo 

galises  inteiest  at  12  per  cent,.  246  note  pled  by  the  children  of  incubi,  i.  4'J  notf 

Constantius,   the    Kmperor,    embraces    the 
Aria;i    heresy,   i.    52.     His    penalties   for 

every  kind  of  magic.  52.     St.  Hilary's  de-  Tv^EDALFS.  his  sculpture,  i.  242 

nunciations  of  him.  ii.  137  note  1  *     Dall.Tiis,  his  indignation  at  the  Carni- 

Consubstantiation.  almost  silent  evanescence  val  dramas  at  Rome,  ii.  SOS  note 

of  the  doctrine  of.  i.  263  Dances  of  the  ancients,  some  of  them  recon- 

'  Consulship  of  the  Sea,'  the  institution  so  structed    by    2xaude.   i.    115   note.     The 

called,  ii.  261  notf  daneint:  mania  of  Flanders  and  Germany, 

Consulships,  foundation  of.  ii.  261.  2^1.    The  origin  of  the,  77.    Exorcism  of  the  dancers, 

first  recorded  English  consul.  2:4  nnie  77  note 

Convent  scandals  of  Gauifridi,  Graudk-r.  and  Daniel    in   the   lion's   den.   early   Christian 

La  Cadicre.  i.  2>  note  symbol  of.  i.  'JUi 

Convocation    advocates   the    execution    of  D;;<:te.  influence  of  his  poem  over  the  con- 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots  for  idolatry,  ii.  50  ceptions  of  theology,  i.   L'4-.     Jlis  theory 
note.     Undertakes  to    censure    heretical  of  international  arrangements,  ii.  21S 
books.  ll'J  Death,  doctrine  of  the  penal  nature  of.  re- 

Copcrnican  system,  rise  and  condemnation  filled  by  geology,  i.  2^5.     Jubinul's  coin- 

ot'.  i.  2vl.     Rejected   to  liie  last  b}'  Lord  parisou  of  the  heatiien  and  mediteval  rep 

r>acon,  2H2  if/if  resentations  of  death.  :J7s  note.    Calmness 

Cordova,  the   theatre  of,  destroyed,  ii.  803  with  which  it  was  contemplated  by  the 

note.  heathen,  87S.    rlhe  death  of  Socrates.  B7b. 

Corporations  and  L'uilds.  their  importance  in  Luther's  saying  on  the  subject.  87S  note 

the  middle  aia-s.  ii.  240.     Milan  lunger  ex-  Death,  the  black,  i.  76.     Causes  to  which  it 

empt  from  them  tJian  any  other  town  in  was  attributed  by  the  supercilious.  77. 

Europe.  --2  Annual  festival  at  Troves  in  conujjemoia- 

'osmas  Imlicopleustcs.  i.  275.     lli>  'Topo-  tioii  of  it.  77  note 

•rraphia  Christiana.'  ^76.    On  earthijiiakes,  Death.  Dance  of,  origin  of  the  pictures  of 

•j-^  in,!.-  the.  i.  7>  mite 

Councils,  influence  of.  in  stimulating  perse-  Decemvirs,  tluir  law  against  magicians,  i. 

cntion.  ii.  '.-j\  42 

Co.xe.  Iji.-hop.  advocates  the  .i]iplicati(.n  of  Do  Mai^lre.  on  the  science  of  the  ancients, 

torture  to  tlie.  (..'athoiic  iirie.-t>.  i.  '-i'-U  />"<(  (jHnteu.    i.    _••-'    nut,.      lli<    iMiiarks    on 

Cruis.  John,  his  application  of  the  doctrine  Locke' .-    pi  :l"sophy,   4o8   n<jte.     And   on 

ol  probahilit'Ks  t"  the  t.hristi:iii  reli_-i.i:i,  llat-'iiV.  -i'-:  ii'iti- 

i.  :;;»7.     Hi-view  of  his  argument  by   La-  IK  moi-ntcy  :  I'miestanlism.  why  favourable 

I-'Iace.  :jr><  note  to.  ii.   167.     Circuiustaiice^   that   pri-pand 

Lrialion.  .-;>intual  meaning  contained  in  the  the  di-mocrai-y  of  ;hc  ei^!:te.-ntli  century, 

record  of  the.  i.  ^7:;  -Jul--Jii7.    Ar:d\>is  of  the  dcimrratk-  idea'. 

I'rcdit.  movement  in  favour  of  manufactures  -1-.     Doeiriii"  of  the  rights  of  national 

Etimulated  by  the  invention  of.  ii.  ;>W  ities.  21^.     'Iheories   of  inte'Tiational   r.: 

CrxViulity  proclaimed  a  virtue  by  the  c!;i>ses  rangements.  21-.      Democ-racy  an   aspect 

vho  were  mo^t.  addicted  to  "falsehood,  i.  of  the  Chri>tian  spirit.  2'J'I 

2H6  Demoniac-  oi   the  Inble  re^anh-d  a-*  lunaMci 

>o.->.   examjiles   of   fcti-h    notions   in    the  by  Webster  and  llobbes.  i.  l:;7.  and  «<^e 

early  Church  iv.-pec'in,'  tl.e,  i.  2''i-"'.     In-  Demons,  the.  of  the  Alexandrian  or  Nco- 

trod'uetion   o:'  the   cro-s   in   ila-   lunur-  of  I'latunic    ?ch<ici!.  i.    46.     ll.c   doctrine  of 

Christian  chMrchc.-.  'J.'.o  ,,,,/,  deiii"i,>   in  its  relation  to   heatlu-u   wur- 

L'rosse.   Dr.,   his  attacks  on   (ihnvil.  i.   Io2  rhip.  46  m,t,-.     <>ii::;n  of  the  wurd  demon 

-note  i:s  >iu'iiifv  ing  devil.  47.     Tertuliinn  on  de- 

'  rucitix.  miracl.'  of  the.  at   Uuiro.-,    '.   '"'7.  i:i"n-.  47.     All   the   paL'an  gods  and  gcil- 

Aud  in  thrift's  CLui-ch,  Dublin,  ir.l  .       d.  rses  ugarcic.l  by  the  early  Christians  -is 


INDEX. 


367 


demons.  43.  Male  and  female  devils,  49 
note.  Exorcists  among  tlie  early  Chris- 
tians. 49.  The  philosophical  svstem  of 
rsellus  i.  63 

DC  Moutfort, .his  commencement  of  the 
massacre  of  the  AH.igeuses,  ii.  33 

Dionysins  the  Areopagite,  his  writings  the 
Bible  of  Mysticism,  i.  344.  In  part  trans- 
lated by  Scotus  Erigena,  844 

n?scartes.  influence  of  his  writings  In  de- 
stroying the  material  notions  associated 
•with  spirits,  i.  116.  His  Theory  of  Vor- 
ik'us.  '239.  His  influence  on  the  decline 
of  the  medieval  notions  of  hell.  331).  345, 
j40.  llis  doctrine  of  animals.  340  note. 
His  account  of  the  opinion  of  his  contem- 
poraries on  tlie  doctrine  of  a  material  tire, 
34(5  note.  Causes  of  his  influence,  400. 
Animosity  of  the  reformed  clersy  of  Hol- 
land against  him,  ii.  50.  The  character  of 
Descartes  regarded  as  the  sceptical  philos- 
opher. 03.  His  influence  on  religious  lib- 
erty, 68,  t>4 

Despotism,  predisposition  of  the  Anglican 
Church  towards,  ii.  IsO 

'Deuce,'  origin  of  the  word.  i.  49  note 

Devil,  his  supposed  especial  power  over 
apples,  i.  30  note.  Appearances  of  him.  in 
various  forms,  in  the  dark  ages,  tH.  Tal- 
ismans for  batlling  his  devices,  03.  Bas- 
reliefs  on  cathedrals  of  men  devoting 
themselves  to  the  devil,  73  note,  Scepti- 
cism at  the  present  day  oa  all  subjects 
connected  with  the  devil,  ST.  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas  on  Satan's  power,  S3.  Tempests 
and  diseases  said  to  be  produced  by  him. 
90.  i>2.  His  power  of  assuming  the  form 
of  any  animal.  V~>.  The  •phenomena  of 
love'  under  the  especial  influence  of  the 
devil.  'M.  Kirk's  account  of  evil  spirits 
among  the  Highlanders.  !  1-s  >m/f.  i'osi- 
tinii  a-siu'iicd  to  him  in  the  religious  plays, 
ii.  2;i5 

Diabolus.  Sprcnger's  derivation  or  the  word, 
i.  -7  >i"t, 

Diana,  in  (ircek  si. lines,  a  type  of  chastity, 
i.  243 

Di;.'by,  Sir  Keiielm.  his  remark  on  the  be- 
lief" in  witchcralt  i:i  hi.-- lime.  i.  112 

Diocletian,  destroys  the  books  of  the  Chris- 
tians, ii.  1 Is 

Diplomacy,  inte'.-nati'.nal.  first  great  impulse 

invcll  lo.  ii.  -J02.  First  Use  of  tile  cipher 
ill.  252  III'!,: 

DipMehs.  curved  ivory,  i.  230 

Diseases  siid  to  have 'been  produced  by  the 
power  of  the  devil,  i.  l'-J 

Dissenters,  F.nu-lHi.  eatt.-es  of  their  power 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  ii.  1-.  \Y.;:ii 
of  success  of  persecution  shown  in  their 
r;ise.  1>.  Dissenter.-  at  tic-  lime  "f  i!u- 
Tnk'ration  Act,  1>.  Assimilated  u.  the 
S-ou-h,  173 

l-u.! '.veil.    Dr.   William,  hi--  answer    to    Dr. 


Donatists,  their  fierce  persecutions,  ii.  2S 
note.  Persecuted  by  Constantino,  23 

Douay,  number  of  sorcerers  put  to  death  at, 
in  one  year,  i.  2'J.  .Executions  for  witch- 
craft at,"  117 

Douglas  on  miracles,  i.  173 

Dress,  richness  of,  after  the  Crnsades,  11 
•_'74 

Drinks,  hot,  importation  of.  into  Europe,  it 
821.  Their  moral  and  social  effects.  3£2 

Dryads,  notions  of  the  early  Christians  rc- 
spectini:  them,  i.  47 

Dublin,  the  miraculous  crucifix  in  Chritt 
Church  at.  i.  104 

Durham  Cathedral,  Smollett's  remarks  on, 
i.  '264  note 

Dnsii.  the,  of  tlie  pagans,  regarded  by  the 
early  Christians  as  devils,  i.  4S.  The  ori- 
gin of  our  'deuce,'  4s  note 


EARTH,  the  centre  of  the.  regarded  by  St 
Thomas  as  hell.  i.  347  nntf.  Earth- 
quakes, remarks  of  Cosmas  Iiidicopleustes 
on,  quoted,  i.  2-?  note 

East  India  Company  begins  the  mercantile 
system  in  England,  ii.  320  note 

Echellcs.  Trois,  the  sorcerer,  pardoned  by 
Charles  IX..  i.  110 

Eclipses,  effects  of.  on  the  superstitions  of 
the  dark  ages.  i.  04.  Said  to  have  caused 
the  death  of  a  French  kiuu'.  04 

'Edinburgh  Review,'  its  inlluence  in  Eng- 
land, ii.  125 

Edwards.  (Jonathan,  his  views  respecting  in- 
fant baptism,  i.  ;(0>.  On  'Original  Sin,1 
30-  note.  On  predestination.  3-7  /mti' 

Egyptians,  influence  of  the  nali..nal  religion 
on  the  art  of  the  ancients,  i.  •2<i'J 

Elilieris.  Council  of,  condemns  usurv,  ii. 
217  note 

Eli/abeth.  Queen. h'-r  laws  n-spectini.'  witi-h- 
craft.  i.  121.  Success  of  pei>.-cuti<>n  as 
shown  in  llie  liu  s  i.t.  ii.  11.  I'.'r-ecTitions 
duriii1.'  her  ivi_n.  40.  UNhop  liilxin  s 
ards  the  Cat  ho- 


Douiat.  his   notion  of  the   impro[<riety   ot' 

inoiiev -lending,  ii.  251   nn\ 
Doininick,  >i..  leuxnd  ot'  his  :ii"t!n  r's  divam. 

ii.  124      The  chief  reviver  of  persecution, 

1U  ii'le 


:ipolo-.-v  for  her  p 

lies.  44"  </••.'..      Answer   she    received   fr..iu 

a  M-ote'n  deputation.  17-' 

Encyclopa-dljts,  their  denunciation  of  tor- 
ture, i.  3:13 

England,  iir-t  law  in,  against  witchcraft,  i. 
11'.'.  j-ccpticism  in  England  at  i!ie  .-nd 
of  the  seventeenth  and  heL-inmn:.'  of  ':he 
eL'htcentl!  centuries,  l-'l-.  Tie-  unexam- 
pled sevi  rity  of  the  p. nal  code  in  En.-iand 
in  the  middle  aircs.  34.'.  Number  of  an- 
nual executions  in  England  in  the  midilla 
•  if  tin  ei_'li'.ee!ith  century.  35".  S'\-'.rity 
of  tlie  peTi.il  i-.i,le  during  tiie  rei_n  of 
(.enr^re  111..  35o.  Ski-tc'.i  of  the  hi-;.iry 
c 'f  inlei-i'i'.n  in  Ei;_"i  iii'l.  ii.  7"'-i-'t.  Dis- 

p'n'uer  in  England.  125.  i'-.;.      I'oliti.-a!  in- 
opinion  in  Enrl  ;i:.i.  1  15    ••'     .      D.-i  :   Ei; _• 

173.      '1  lie    two'   .-civ.'.,,-'  of  .':-  -•    '  -:."    in 
England,  i-  '.     l'.a-al!i  1  !..  ;  ^  :  i»- 

EnLl.ind:  i  -':':.'  '  Tl.'.-  -reatTst   Ei.jisii  ,'r,  -- 


368 


INDEX. 


French  tolerance,  1S6.  Sale  of  English 
slaves  to  the  Irish  in  the  middle  ages,  233 
note.  Introduction  of  usury  into  Eng- 
land, 254.  First  formally  permitted  by 
law.  250.  First  mercantile  companies  es- 
tablished in,  2S1.  The  iirst  English  con- 
sul recorded,  2S1  note.  Introduction  of 
the  optra  into  England,  301.  The  drama 
in  England,  310.  IJevolution  of  prices  in 
England  in  the  sixteenth  century,  310 
note.  Beginning  of  the  mercantile,  sys- 
te:n  in  England,  320  note.  Preeminence 
of  England  in  political  economy,  834 

Ephesus.  Council  of,  defined  the  manner  in 
which  the  Virgin  should  be  represented 
by  artists,  i.  L'L'5 

Ephialtes.  the  demon  of  nightmare,  accord- 
ing to  the  Greeks,  i.  49  twle 

Ephrem.  St.,  weds  orthodox  verses  to  Gnos- 
tic music,  i.  220 

Epicureans,  their  denial  of  the  existence  of 
evil  spirits,  i.  42. 

Epilepsy,  an  epidemic  attack  of.  attributed 
to  the  alHicted  having-  been  baptised  by 
unchaste  priests,  i.  Senate 

Episcopalianism,  its  tendency  compared 
with  that  of  1'resbyterianism.  ii.  165 

Erasmus,  his  firm  belief  in  witchcraft,  i.  S4. 
His  opposition  to  the  doctrine  uf  predesti- 
nation, i.  8v>.  His  toleration,  ii.  59 

Essex,  an  old  man  mobbed  to  death  as  a 
wizard  in.  in  1503,  i.  139  note 

Eucharis.  the  actress,  ii.  2iS  note 

Eucharistic  controversv,  part  taken  in  the, 
by  the  early  Reformers,  i.  372 

Euhemerus,  his  theory  of  the  origin  of  the 
cods  of  pa.'aniMii.  i  805.  Translated  into 
Latin  by  Ennius.  :;o."> 

Eunoinius.  his  writings  suppressed  by  the 
Emp'.-ror  Arcadias.  ii.  11? 

Eunuchs  in  opera  house.-,  ii.  30^ 

EutyclK  =.  the  works  of.  prohibited  by  Thc-o- 
dosius.  ii.  ]!•> 

Evidential  school,  origin  p.nd  decline  of  the, 
in  England,  i.  1~>9.  Its  position  in  France, 
I'M.  And  in  Germany.  191.  stronir  teii- 
ilriicy  amotn'  the  evidential  school  to  meet 
the  Nationalists  half-way.  392 

Exchange,  the  invention' of  letters  of.  as- 
cribed to  the  Jews,  ii.  ^72  note 

Excommunication,  its  great  power  in  the 
middle  ai'i  -.  ii.  l'i- 

Exorei-ts.  early  Chri.-tian.  i.  49.  Their 
tombs  in  the  catacombs.  49  noli-.  <  >r-ier 
of  exorcists  in  the  Church  of  Koine.  49 

not': 

Exorcism  forbidden  to  (-leri_'\  men  by  Con- 
vocation. uni<  r-s  license  1  by  their  hi-hops, 
i.  141.  K.\o.'ci-is  amuii_'  the  Christians, 
Pagans,  and  Jews,  150  note, 


FAIJI'iLA.  IMT  foundation  of  the  iir-t  hos- 
pitals, ii.  -_'85 

Fairies  re_':.rdi-d  as  devils,  i.  4-  note 
Famine,  flic  el  of.  on    tin-  sup.-r.-  hions   of 

the  dark  au'es,  i.  01.     Alleged  cau.-e  of  one 

in  France,  'it. 
Fare.e.-.  tlii-  iarli.-st.  ii.  ^97.    IJlancli.-fs  farce 

of  '  1'atelin.'  2'J7   Hide.     Sjiani-h   farce-  in 

the  lil'teelith  ivnlury.  -j;i-  n,,f,- 
Farel.  In-  approval  of  ill-,  nmidcr  of  :-;crvc- 

tus,  ii.  52 


Farmer.  Hugh,  his  attempts  to  explain  the 
diabolical  possessions  of  Scripture  by  the 
ordinary  phenomena  of  epilepsy,  i.  1*73 

Fathers  of  the  Church,  miracles  related  by 
them  as  undoubted  and  ordinary  occur- 
rences, i.  156.  The  cessation  of  miracles 
supposed  by  early  Protestants  to  have 
taken  place  when  the  Fathers  passed 
away,  104.  Neglect  into  which  their 
works  had  fallen  in  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  107.  l)r.  Middle-ton's 
attack  on  their  veracity.  10S.  Their  t\s- 
nial  of  the  existence  of  the  Antipodes 
'275.  276.  Their  conception  of  hell.  316. 
Justified  pious  frauds.  394  note.  Their 
opinions  on  toleration,  ii.  21.  On  passive 
obedience.  136.  Their  services  in  making 
labour  honourable,  231.  Their  condemna- 
tion of  money-lending.  245.  Their  denun- 
ciation of  the'  theatre,  "2S8,  2?9 

Fauns,  the,  of  the  pagans,  regarded  by  the 
early  Christians  as  devils,  i.  48 

Feltre,  Bercardin  de.  founded  money-lend- 
ing societies  in  Italy,  i;.  249 

Fetir-bism  probably  the  first  stasre  of  re- 
ligious belief,  i.  204.  Examples  of  fetish 
notions  in  the  early  Church,  205.  The 
fetishism  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  242 

Fian.  Dr..  his  horrible  tortures  and  death 
for  witchcraft,  i.  123  note 

Fiard.  Abbe,  charges  the  philosophers  with 
being  the  representatives  of  the  old  sor- 
cerers. i.  11s 

Fieni  assists  Fromundus  in  a  work  on 
comets,  i.  2=0  note 

Fights,  sham,  of  Italy,  ii.  292  note. 

Filmer,  his  advocacy  of  passive  resistance, 
ii.  IS!.  Answered  by  Sidney.  1-1 

Fire  regarded  by  the  ancients  as  the  portal 
of  the  unseen  world,  i  32IJ  n<Af 

Fish,  the.  a  symbol  of  Christ,  i.  215.  216 

Flagellants,  origin  of  the  order  of  the.  i.  74. 
Their  discipline.  74.  Their  reappearance 
at  the  period  of  the  black  death.  77 

Flies.  Beelzebub  god  of.  i.  1'5  notii 

Florence,  the  dyers  of.  in  the  middle  ages, 
i.  255  tt'ift:.  Luxury  of.  alter  the  Cru- 
sades. ii.  274.  Trade  in  money.  254 

Fii-iiiina.  Sprenger's  derivation  of  the  word, 


Fortiinaui.-.  St..  'On  (he  Cross,1  quoted.!. 
2'i5  nut,: 

Fo.-earini.  the  Carmelite,  his  d.  -fence  of  the 
Copernican  system,  i.  2-1  nut<..  His  con- 
demnation. -••!  >mt>: 

Foundlings,  multitudes  of.  sustainol  by  tti* 
early  Christians,  ii.  -J:i8.  >ketcl,  of  tiiO 
history  of  fouudling  hospitals  in  Europe, 
-.'34  note 

F<>\.  (.  liarlr-s  .Tame-,  on  the  relation  of  sccp- 
tiei-m  and  toleration,  ii.  ^o  ;/,,/, 

Fram.-i-.  ]M-rsecuiioii  ol  v.-itehes  in  the  south 
ol.  i.  L'9.  (Jradiial  ee.--ation  of  ]i<-r>ecu- 
I'on  for  witehrrai't  and  s-orcery  in.  UN 
i  ii-.-a.-ion.'.l  apparitions  of  the  Virgin 
ainoni.'  ignorant  and  .-uper.-til  ions  pea- 
s-aiit.i  in.  l.V.i.  Alli-_':anee  of  France,  to 
Chri-iianity  thrown  oil'  in  tin-  l.i-t  con- 
liii-\,  l.-'J.  Kerrull  «  •!'  her  leturu  to  tlie 


INDEX.  3(J9 

Church,  ISO.  Protestant  persecutions  in,  Catholics  in  (Germany,  ii.  40.  I'robable 
1L.  49.  Sketch  of  the  history  of  toleration  cause  of  the  ascendency  of  German  think- 
In  Franco,  63,  103.  France  at  the  head  of  ers  in  Europe.  133 

modern   liberalism,  121.     Circumstances  Gerson,    chancellor    of   the  University  ol 

that  made  patriotism  in  France  antagonis-  Paris,  his  defence  of  the  belief  in  witch- 
tic  to  liberty,  105.  Attitude  of  the  1'rot-  j  craft,  i.  S3.  His  remarks  on  persons  who 
estants  in  1015,105.  Declarations  by  the  :  denied  the  existence  of  demons,  quoted, 

Sorbonne  of  the  absolute  independence  of  104.     Denounces  tyrannicide,  ii.  159 

the  civil  power,  100.     Difference  between  Gibbon.  Edward,  causes  of  his  going  over  ii» 

the  growth  of  English  and  French  liberty  the  Church  of  Koine,  i.  172.  IsO 

analogous  to  English  and  French  toler-  Gilbert,  "William,  bis  discoveries  respectu.z 

ance,  IN").     "Wide  iutliience  of  the  French  the  magnet  treated  with  contempt  by  Lord 

Revolution,  213.     Usury  in  France  in  the  Bacon,  i.  2'j2  note 

eighth  and  ninth  centuries,  '254  note,  255.  Giotto,  religious  feeling  pervading  his  works, 

Impulse  i'iven  to  French  commerce  from  i.  .46 

the  relations  of  France  with  the  Turks,  Gladiatorial  shows,  the  last,  ii.  234.     Origin 

273.      Luxury    after    the    Crusades,    274.  of.  293  note 

Contrast  between  the  French  and  Italian  Gladstone,  "W.  E.,  his  'Church  and  State, 

dramas  in  their  relation   to  the  Church.  quoted,  ii.  127 

2!I9.      Introduction     of    the    opera     iuto  Glanvil,  Joseph,  his  defence  of  the  pers^cu- 

France.  301  tion  of  witches,  i.  53.     His  defence  of  the 

brands,  pious,  i.  31)3.    Justified  by  the   Fa-  belief  in  witchcraft.  129.     General  outline 

thcrs,  393.     Dr.  Newman  on.  394  note  of    his    opinions,   130.     Of    his   essay   on 

Frederick,  King  of  Prussia,  bis  abolition  of  'Anti-fanatical  Ueliirion  and  Free  1'hilos- 
torture  in  las  dominions,  i.  334  ophy,'  1:',2.     His  '  Sadducismus  Triumph- 
Frederick    II.,   Emperor,   declares  himself  atus.-'    iy:i.     Its   great   success,    13.").  .  His 
the  protector  of  the  Inquisition,  ii.  113  tolerance,  ii.  s4  note 

Freethinkers  in  Koman  Catholic  countries,  Glass  painting,  common  long  before,  the  time 

character  of  the  modern  school  of,  i.  ls-1  of  Cimabue,   i.  237   note.'    diiirin   of  tlio 

Fromimdus,   his   works  and   views,   i.   2SO  tracery  of  some  of  the   windows  of  the 

note  French  cathedrals,  255  note 

FuL'entius,   St.,  condemns  all   external   to  Gloucester,  Duchess  of,  her  punishment  for 

the  Chtuvh.  i.  377.     His  statement  of  the  ivithcraft.  i.  I'M 

doctrine  ot  infant  baptism,  quoted,  302  Gnosticism:  origin  of  the  central  doctrine 

i  if    the   -Kons,   i.   -49   not,-.     Influence   of 
(inosticism    over  Christian    art.   217.     Its 

/"1ALILEO.   condemnation  of.   by  the   lit-  view  of  the  God  of  the  .lews.  £.'0  •»»/?.    <  X 

VJT     era!  >c!iool  of  scrioiural    interpreter.-,  the   •  I'nknown    Father.'   220.     The    two 

i.  275.  2>l  principal    _ Kons.    Christ   and    the   Sophia, 

Galilean   Church,   its  contemptuous    disrc-  2-1.     1'ho.  worship  of  the  Virgin  strenirlh- 

gavd  ot  the  decrees  of  the  Second  Council  cn--d  by   Gnosticism,   -21.     Reverence  of 

of  Nice,  i.  231.     Gerh<-rt    the   reputeil  an-  many  of  the  (ijiostics  for  the  serpi  lit.  221 

thor  of  Galilean  opinions,  2S2  nut-.     The  »o!<-.     The  woman  who  was  healed  of  the 

Gailican   Church    the    representative    of  is-ue  of  blood  one  ol  the  principal  types 

despotic  interests,  ii.  103  of  the  Gnostics,  221  m<t>.    Absorbing* and 

GardeniiiL',   inllunie.-  of    Rousseau    on    the  aitractin^   intliu-nce   of   Giv>-iiei.-m,   222. 

science  of.  ii.  215.     I.c  \ i. ire's  Mv!e.  21  (J  l'rol)able   (iii'^tie    origin    of   the   conveii- 

Garinet,  on  sorcery,  (jtioted,  i.  ->J  iivtt.  tional  cast  ot  featurea  ascribed  to  Christ, 

(iataki-r.  on  lots.  i.  2^7  imli-  222 

Gauls,  juouey-leiidiiiu'  amoni'  the,  ii.  244  G»d  the  Father,  rejirescntations  of.  in  Chris- 
Generation,  spontaneous,  theory  of.  i.  :'.41.  tian  art,  camjiaratively  modern,  i.  210.  21*. 
Melauchthon's  remarks  upon  the  question  How  r.'pres.'iite1l  in  diil'ereiit  countries, 
of  the  causes  of  the  dilierenci-  of  >t-\.  21'.'.  1  (i.ler.'iice  betwrt-n  the  conception 
(jiioti-d.  315  mi/,-.  The  laws  of  L'eiicration  of  !h<-  l)i\inity  in  a  scientilic  and  nn- 
a-  c\plain<jd  bv  Mr.  Morell.  ii.  '.'7  not/'  si-ientilie  airc.  2s? 

Genesis,  objections   of  the   Manieh.-i-an-  to  Gi.d>  ,,f   the  pa_'u:is.  iin?i.,ns    of  the   early 

the  literal   interpretation  of.  i.   272.     An-  I  liri>lians  respectinir  the.  i.  41 

swercd  by  St.  Ai!i_'ii-tiiic.  273  Go'il.  economical  crn>r  of  rc^anlin^  it  ale-no 

Guncva,  irreat  uumbers  of  witches  exei-Mted  a-*  wcai'li.  ii.  313 

in.  L  31"  (Jdld-jnith's  work   nf  i:..u.-n.   It.ily.  ;.rid  L:  • 

Genii.  ]>a^an  representations  of  the.  adopti'd  nio^es.  i.  23,  nnt< .    st.  l.lo>.  their  patron, 

by  Christian  art  as  guardian  an^'el-.  i.  215  i.  237   )/"<V 

Genius,   a    irood.    represented    by    th.-    .>ld  G«-pels.    the    apocryphal,    their     huliunce 

Egyptians   as   a   ?ei'i":;it    with    a    hawk's  over  Chri>tian  art.  i.  222 

head,  i.  221  no/--  liothic  arehiteettire.  ori_-in  r,f.   i.   2'"2.     Fit- 

Gen-)vesi    advoi'ate*    the    abolition    >,\    tli.'  n.'-~  of.  for  churelie-.  2i«.     l>'si'.i\  -';r  intii 

usury  laws,  ii.  20o //„,',  which   it   f,  11   in   th>-   i  i_'ht.-.  ::;h  cet.tirry. 

GentiH-.  hi.--  death,  ii.  V.t  2'"4  /'  /• .    The  '.luctuatlon-  in  :h  •  .  -;in,ati> 

Gevloi'v  refutes  tli.-   d. .et riii,.'   of  tile   p,  nal  of  :hi>  an-hiti  cture  re;  r. -en;  t 

nature  of  death,  i.  2-5  ti,in>  ,,f  reli.i'iu-  -,  :itime;i:>.  :'-•.    C:iti.-e.- 

Genuany.  \:u-t   numbers  of  witches   put    In  ' 
di-::th   in.  i    ''7.     ( 'har.ieter  oi    tic-   l.iMi.-.r 
:riiiei-m    of     30.",.      l'ei>ec'ition    of    tin- 


INDEX. 


tnre,  264  note.  Singular  criticisms  of 
Gothic  arJiitecture,  264  note.  Its  revival 
in  the  present  century,  264  note 

Gottschalk,  the  monk,  holds  the  doctrine  of 
double  predestination,  i.  3S5  note.  His 
punishment,  4S5  note, 

Government,  its  power  of  influencing  the 
reason  of  the  people,  ii.  14.  Hooker's 
doctrine  of  the  true  origin  and  functions  of, 
177.  Locke's  treatise  on  government,  162 

(lo/.zoli,  Benozzo,  his  works,  i.  '247 

tivatian,  the  Emperor,  his  slave  law,  ii.  2-30 
note 

R rattan,  on  the  Act  of  Union,  ii.  1S2  note 

Gravitation,  problem  of,  i.  2'.i7 

Greeks,  their  notion  of  nightmare,  i.  40  noff. 
Their  belief  in  evil  spirits  and  sorcery,  42. 
Influence  of  the  national  religion  on  the 
art  of  the  ancient,  209.  Greek  worship  of 
beauty.  -23$  Greek  idolatry  faded  into 
art.  242.  Creative  power  in" art  becomes 
extinct  among  the  Greeks,  244.  Influence 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  spirit  of  ancient 
Greece  on  medievalism,  251.  Immense 
sums  expended  by  ancient  Greece  upon 
\v-orks  of  art.  257."  Works  of  excavation 
carried  on  by  the  French  in  Greece.  259 
ride.  Acquaintance  with  the  Greek 
tongue  in  Ireland  in  the  ninth  century,  i. 
321'.  The  Greek  fear  of  the  dead  and  pre- 
disposition to  see  ghosts,  341  note.  In  in- 
dustrial pursuits,  how  regarded  in  Greece. 
ii.  224.  Money-lending  among  the  Greeks, 
244.  The  lawfulness  of  usury  maintained 
by  the  Creeks  after  the  twelfth  century, 
250.  Music  among  the  Greeks.  310  nute 

Gregorius  Thauinaturgiis  one  of  the  latest 
eminent  for  the  gift  of  miracles,  i.  105 

Gregory  of  Xyssa."  his  disbelief  in  eternal 
punishment.-,  i.  310 

Gregory  the  Great,  his  emancipation  of  his 
slaves,  ii.  2'iiJ 

Gregory  XIII..  Pope,  removes  the  prohibi- 
tion of  Paul  V.  against  bull-fighting,  i. 
HI 'i  note 

Gregory  XVI..  Pope,  his  condemnation  of 
religious  libertv.  ii.  74 

Greviu.  his  play  "'The  Death  of  Cesar,1  ii. 
159 

Grillandus.  'On  the  Poverty  of  "\Vitches.'  i. 
•2s  note.  'On  their  Medical  Knowledge.' 
'.<•',  ii  1,1  f 

Grindal.  Tiishop.  advocates  the  application 
of  torture  to  the  Catholic  priests,  i.  •'•'•'>'•'> 
note 

Gronovius.  influence1  of  the*  Roman  la\v  on 
his  political  teaching,  ii.  194.  His  works. 
I'.'"'  iio't 

Grotius.  liis  view  of  rebellion,  ii.  137  initf. 
Hi.-  '.heurv  01' international  arrauL'cmciils, 
£1S 

liaido  <,f  .Vre//o.  his  invention  of  musical 
notation,  ii.  300 

Guilds  and  corporations,  their  importance 
in  the  middle  a-jvs.  ii.  24" 

Gunpowder,  importance  of  the  discovery  of. 
to  democracy,  ii.  -.'"0 


HAI.K.  Sir  Matthew.  l,i-  b,-li.-f  in   tin-  ex- 
istence i  if  wi'ciienJ't.  i.  12-> 
Hall.    l:o!.,Tt.    his    advoca<-\-    oi    libertv,   ii 

'''•',  lintt 


'  Haunold,  on  usury,  it  257 

Hanseatic  League,  commerce  »f  the,  ii  28i 

Its  suppression  of  piracy,  282 
'•  Harrington.  James,  on  liberty  of  conscience 
ii.  SO.     His  'System  of  Politics,'  quoted, 
feO  note.     His   'Oceana,'   145  note.    An- 
swers to  his  arguments,  145  note.    His 
advocacy  of  the  ballot,  145  note.    On  the 
necessity  of  usury,  251)  note 
i  Harsenet,   Dr.,  archbishop  of   York,   •nu- 
merates witchcraft  amongst  'Popish  Ira 
postures,'  i.  142 

j  Harvey,  his  discovery  of  the  circulation  <nf 
the  blood  not  owing  to  Bacon's  method, 
i.  292  note,  first  result  of  his  discovery. 
299 

Hawkswood.  Sir  John,  and  the  Italian  con- 
dottieri,  ii.  206 

Healing,  cause  of  the  adoption  of  the  ser 
pent  as  the  emblem  of.  i.  220  note 

Helena,  worship  of,  i.  220  note 

Hell,  catalogue  of  the  leaders,  and  descrip- 
tion of  the  organisation  of,  i.  107.  Patris- 
tic conception  of.  315.  Views  of  Origen 
and  Gregory  of  Xyssa.  310.  Faint  notions 
of  the  Jews  and  heathens  on  the  subject, 
31S.  Elaboration  of  the  conception  of 
punishment  by  literal  fire  in  the  middle 
ages.  319.  Extreme  terrorism  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  821.  Dean  Miiman  on 
the  pas-ion  for  detailed  pictures  of  hell, 
322  noie.  Destruction  of  natural  religion 
by  the  conception  of  hell.  323.  Eil'ect  of 
the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment  on 
man's  character.  320  tt  *•<•//.  Causes  of 
the  decline  of  the  mediaeval  notions  of 
hell.  33S.  The  belief  in  hell  one  of  the 
corner-stones  of  the  psychology  of  the 
Fathers.  341.  Opinions  of  the  contempo- 
raries of  Descartes.  340  note.  The  locality 
of  hell.  340.  Elimination  of  the  doctrine 
of  future  torture  from  religious  realisa- 
tions, 352 

Helmont.  Van.  his  receipt  for  producing 
mice.  i.  345  >t/,fe 

Henry  III.  of  France,  his  murder,  ii.  151. 
The  murder  eulogised  bv  the  League  and 
by  the  Pope.  101 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  establishes  the  prin- 
ciple- of  toleration  by  the  edict  of  Mantes, 
ii.  O'l.  liis  theory  of  international  ar- 
rangements. 21 S 

Henry  VIII.  of  England,  formally  permits 
iiioney-leudMii'.  ii.  250 

Hercules  represented  in  some  of  the  old 
e![Uiehe.-.  i.  214  n»tf.  In  (iivek  .-tallies 
tin-  type  df  thr  dignity  of  labour,  243 

Hereditary  L'uilt.  th-  conception  of.  i.  357. 
Theories  to  account  for  ii.  :;."•-.  Expres- 
sion of  this  L'eneral  conception  in  dog- 
matic teaching.  35-.  Weakem  d  by  the 
progress  of  democratic  l.abit>.  3.>.  It* 
dogmatic  expression  the  doctrine  that  al! 
men  are  by  nature  doomed  to  damnation, 
:;i)n.  Infant  baptism,  oi'.o 

Heresinrcl.s.  the  age  of.  passed,  i.  1-7.  M.  de 
Montulembert's  n marks  on  Lamcnnais as 
an  Iien-siarch.  1-7  ii'itc 

Heretic-,  u-e  of  slow  lire  in  burning'  them 
in  -nine  (iistricts.  i.  .'Uil  n ni i..  Torture  of 
h-T(  ties  in  the  siMeeinii  century.  3:<2. 
Uisliop  Siiiiaii'-a-  on  heretic.-  p(i.-.-\-ssins 
no  ijjoral  rights  3i'l  note.  Tin.1  fust  l:.w 


INDEX. 


371 


in  which  the  penalty  of  death  is  annexed 
to  the  simple  profession  of  a  heresy,  1i.  23 
note.  The  Levitieal  law  regarded  by  Cy- 

Erian  as  the  foundation  of  dealings  with 
eretics,  23.  St.  Augustine's  view  of 
heresy,  81.  32  note.  Denunciation  by  St. 
Martin  and  St.  Ambrose  of  the  execution 
of  some  heretics,  83.  Few  heretics  perse- 
cuted for  several  centuries  before  the  Al- 
bigcnses,  36,  37.  Heresies  renewed  by  Ibi; 
decomposition  of  mediaeval  society,  38. 
Encountered  by  persecution.  3S.  Eymcri- 
cus  the  Inquisitor.  41  note.  Bull  of  Pope 
Innocent  IV.  enjoining  examination  by 
torture.  42  note.  Sentence  pronounced 
upon  the  relapt-ed  hereiic,  43  note.  l"e- 
rocity  disj)Iayed  towards  the  children  of 
heretics,  44  "note,  45  note,  Right  of  the 
oivil  magistrates  to  punish  heresy  main- 
tained by  Luther,  Keza,  <fcc.,  CO.  But  op- 
posed by"  Zuinirlius  and  Socinus,  51.  Re- 
peal of  the  writ  '  De  Iltiretico  comburen- 
do,'  So.  Work  of  Jansenius  on  the  sin- 
fulness  of  alliances  with  heretics.  110. 
Sketch  of  the  constitution  and  progress 
of  the  Inquisition,  1 11 

Hermaphrodites  introduced  by  Polycles  into 
art,  i.  250  note 

Hernandez,  the  Spanish  sculptor,  his  piety, 
i.  247  note 

Heroism,  effect  of  the  classical  writings  in 
altering  the  type  of,  ii.  1U6 

Highlanders,  Robert  Kirk's  account  of  evil 
spirits  among  the,  i.  14S  note 

Hilarion.  St.,  his  miracle  performed  for  the 
benefit  of  Italicus,  i.  05.  Other  miracles 
related  of  him.  50  note 

Hilary,  St.,  of  Poitiers,  his  advocacy  of  ab- 
solute and  complete  toleration,  ii.  21. 
His  denunciation  of  the  Emperor  Con- 
stantius.  ii.  l-'>7  act*.- 

Ilinckmar.  archbi.-hnp  of  P.heims,  his  oppo- 
sition to  the  worship  of  image-',  i.  231. 
<  >n  infant  bapti.-'ui.  ;i01.  His  opposition 
to  Cottcschalk's  doctrine  of  double  prc- 
Jestination.  3*5  nolf 

Hi.-t.iry.  inllr.ences  of  the  morphological 
theory  of  the  universe  upon,  i.  2!'5 

'  Histriomastix.'  the.  of  Prvi.ne.  ii.  -'Uo  »>iff 

Hob!)eS.   his    influence    olle'ot'   the  callfeS    of 

the  decline  of  tl.c  belief  in  witchcraft,  i. 
1  •-'•'.  IIi~  unllinchini.'  support  of  per*ccu- 
tioii.  ii.  *••">.  Inimical  to  liberty.  1*4 

Hohsnii,  Eli/abeth,  her  aeeouiu  of  an  appa- 
rition th-it  had  appeared  t(.  In  r.  i.  14o 

llolidavs.  Catholic.'  ii.  32S  not,' 

Holland,  Protestant  pcrseemions  of  the 
Catholics  in.  ii.  50.  ,N<  ,:  Netherlands 

Hooker,  Richard,  love  of  truth  n-anif,  sted 
in  his  \\ork*.  ii.  77.  His  dcdrinc  of  ;l:e 
origin  and  functions  of  L"  A  eminent,  ITS'. 
Am!  of  passive  obedience.  17!> 

Hopital  upholds  religions  lib,  riy.  ii.  5:» 

Hopkins,  Matthew.  the  witch:iiider.  i.  125 

llcrsley.  l!i*hop.  his  advocacy  of  pasrhf 
obedience  to  the  law-,  ii.  1  *-4" 

Uo-piial-;  of  the  early  t'hri-'tiaiis.  ii.  -:S- 
The  h..-pitals  erected  by  Kabiola.  L':.5. 
The  network  of  hospitals  1'. -undid  aft,  r 
the  Crusades.  2o>! 

Hotmail,  his  '  ]-'i~.meo-(  la'lia.'  ii.  !•-.  Ac- 
count of  the  author.  !••-  and  m  t, 

Howard,  John,  i.  WJ 


Hroswitha,  her  religious  plays,  il.  294 

Hudibras  on  executions,  tor  witchcraft,  1. 126 
note 

Huet,  bishop  of  Avranches,  his  view  of  the 
ntter  vanity  of  philosophy,  i.  370  note 

Humanity,  virtue  of,  i.  807.  Inhumanity 
of  some  of  the  sports  of  our  ancestors, 
307,  30S 

Hume,  David,  his  'Kssay  on  Miracles,1  i. 
172.  His  method  of  reasoning  anticipate/I 
by  Locke.  172  not*.  Influence  of  his  esssy 
at  the  present  day.  IK).  Inimical  to  liber- 
ty, ii.  ls4.  On  usury,  200 

Huss.  John,  his  liberal  opinions,  ii.  IfiS 

Hutchinson,  on  the  number  of  executions 
for  witchcraft  in  Kngland,  i.  12o  note 

Hntchinson.  on  tiie  causes  of  the  ancient 
preference  of  Gothic  to  Koman  architec- 
ture, i.  204  nott 

Huttcn,  I'lrich  von,  his  liberal  views,  ii. 
109.  His  ridicule  of  the  attempt  to  mould 
the  classics  into  the  image  of  medieval- 
ism, li'S  note.  His  irony  on  the  Christian 
horror  of  the  Jews,  205  note 

Hydraulicon.  water  oriran,  i-  202  note 

Hypera-sthesia  of  the  memory,  cares  of,  ii. 
'l*7  note 


?TX0Y'2.  the  initial  letters  of  the  name  of 
1  Christ  as  Saviour,  i.  215  ;«-,/.' 

Iconoclasts,  rise  and  progress  of  the,  i.  '-'"o. 
Quarter  whence  the  Iconoclasts  issued 
forth.  245.  Ktlect  of  the  Iconoclast  per.-e- 
ctition  on  Italian  art.  2-14  n"t? 

Idolatry,  reasons  why  uncivilUt-d  man  falls 
iuto.'i.  'Jo-S.  A  sign  sometimes  of  progress, 
sometimes  of  rctrogivrj-ioii.  '-'I"-.  St.  A^o- 
bard's  work  denouncing  the  idohnry  of 
imajre-worship,  2o2.  Intimate  connt-ctii.n 
of  idolatry  with  the  modi  s  of  tli,iti_'iit  i.f 
the  middle  ages.  2:U.  Mahometai;i>ni  the 
sole  e\am]ile  of  a  ^rreat  reliu'i»n  reslrain- 
in_r  seDii-barbr.rians  frem  idolatry.  ^;-'4. 
Causes  why  lireek  idolatry  faded  into 
art.  242 

Ignatir.s.  St..  his  intro,it;.-ti,in  of  the  prac- 
tice of  antipl.ons.  ii.  :.!uo 

Illibi-ris.  decree  c-f  the  Council  of,  against 
paintings  in  churches,  :.  2:-'o 

Infantry,  change  in  the  relative  im^iortanee 
ot  caialiy  and  intai:try  in  war.  ii.  2o5 

Innocent  I'll.,  Pope,  his  institution  of  tho 
Inquisition,  i.  71.  }•'.-  tali!i>r.,-  the  Inqui- 
sition. ii.  :N.  His  bull  confiscating  the 
•roods  of  In  retics.  4!  m>f, 

Im.  oceiit  IV..  1'i.pe.  his  bull  ,-nif-ining  tl.e 
exa-ninalioti  ,u  lunties  b\  torture,  ii.  42 


Innocent    \I..   Po]  e.  !.is   i-ord 
usury,  ii.  24  > 

Inqiiisiti"!!.  in-tit'-tinii  of  the.  i.  7!.  T':.n 
t:r.-t  :a\v  in  w  hieh  the  title  '  li;,;!t>;tors  ef 
the  Kaith  '  ap]-.,  ni-i.  ii.  :•'  •  '•  .  l'--nii  .  f 
»u|,  plication  iiiiplojcil  by  Ii...i  i-;''-rs.  :-4 

\o:;r  ot'  toleration.  :'-t  ;---'..  M-._::;'i:ile 
an,!  au-oeiu  ,-:'  ;i  -  j-.  r-,  ,  '.';,'n-  (-1  •}.<  In- 
i|i;i*i!ii  n.  40.  Tar  in  -  '«  r,  mar'-:  o-i  Tho 
li.uui-i'i-.n.  ;_  ]'  :-.:,  n  ;..«a;  ( 


372 


INDEX. 


promised  by  the  Inquisitors  to  those  who 
would  confess  or  retract  their  opinions 
within  a  certain  period,  45  note.  Fre- 
quent hostility  of  the  Inquisition  to  the 
civil  power,  and  its  separation  of  religions 
questions  from  politics,  111.  Sketch  of 
the  constitution  and  progress  of  the  In- 
quisition. Ill 

Interest,  principles  that  regulate,  ii.  242. 
Unknown  to  the  ancients,  244  See  a  ho 
Usury. 

[Humiliation,    flee  Manuscripts 

linage-worship.     See  Idolatry 

Impromptus,  old  plays  termed,  ii.  297 

Incarnation,  desire  in  the  middle  ages  to 
give  a  palpable  form  to  the  mystery  of 
the.  i.  224  note.  Instances  of  a  conception 
by  the  ear,  224  note, 

[ncubi,  or  male  devils,  i.  48  note.  Their 
Peculiar  attachment  to  women  with  beau- 
tiful hair,  49  iiote.  Their  sons  in  the  isle 
of  Cyprus.  49  note 

Independents,  their  tolerant  spirit,  ii.  78. 
•ludex  Expurgatorius,'  originated  by 
Taul  IV.,  ii.  Ill)' 

India,  influence  of  the  national  religion  on 
the  ur\  of  ancient,  i.  209.  210  note 

Industry:  the  industrial  history  of  nation- 
alism, ii.  222  tt  si-tj.  Slavery  the  basis  of 
the  industrial  system  of  antiquity,  228. 
Industry,  how  regarded  in  ancient  Greece 
and  Home,  224.  Services  of  the  Fathers 
and  cf  the  Benedictines  in  making  labour 
honourable,  281.  Modern  industrial  his- 
tory begun  by  the  emancipation  of  the 
towns,  239.  Effects  of  the  Crusades  on 
industry,  240.  Importance  of  corpora- 
tions in  the  middle  ages.  240.  Points  of 
contact  of  industrial  and  theological  en- 
terprises, 2-11.  Usury  the  first  giound  of 
collision,  241.  Effect  of  industry  on  theo- 
logical judgments.  278.  Injuiy  done  to 
industry  by  persecution,  278.  'Cause  of 
the  decline"  of  the  ideal  of  [-overly,  274. 
Luxury  and  sumptuary  laws  of  the  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries,  2-1. 
llapid  increase  of  commerce  in  Kurope, 
281.  An  intellectual  ascendency  given  to 
industry  by  the  Medici.  2&2.  Ilaimony 
of  the  industrial  movement  with  the  other 
tendencies  of  the  age.  2Ni.  The  creation 
of  the  thealre  the  last  service  of  the  in- 
dustrial civilisation  of  Italy,  Hid.  '1  ho 
sceptre  of  industry  almost  in  the  grasp  of 
Spain,  'ill.  Incompatibility  of  inonas- 
ticism  with  industry,  816.  Cessation  of 
tlie  commercial  antagonism  of  Prolestant- 
isin  and  Calholicjsm.  :128.  Conflict  be- 
tween the  manufacturing  and  agricultural 
intci-cMs.  824.  School  of  Sully  opposed  to 
inal.tifactures.  826.  The  school  oi  Colbert  i 
favourable  to  them,  ".26.  :-!27.  I!<  grinning  : 
of  UK-  mercantile  system  in  England,  826 
tintf.  Invention  of  credit.  882.  And  of  | 
machinery,  882.  l'oiiiie;il  economy  an 
expression  of  an  industrial  civilisation, 
:;:;!.  Industry  the  d<  stroyer  of  asceticism 
jirrion;:  the.  mod. 'ins.  :;5o.  "  intellectual  in-  i 
fiiioncos.  fa\onrable  to  induMriali.-m.  8.".]. 
UtililarianiMii  the  philosophical 
fcion  of  industrialism.  8.vj 


jitenial  :on 
Hihlcbra: 


th 


Investitures,  the  famous  history  of  thf,  II 

108 

Irish,  veneration  of  the  ancient,  for  wolven 
i.  95  note.  Their  belief  in  lycanthropy,  91 
note 

Ireland,  learning  in.  in  the  ninth  century,  I, 
820.  Number  of  converts  from  Catholi- 
cism to  Protestantism  produced  by  tha 
penal  system  in  seventy-one  years,  ii.  16. 
The  outbreak  of  1640.  16.  Want  of  suc- 
cess of  persecution  shown  in  the  case  of 
Irish  Catholics,  16.  Persecution  of  thrt 
Catholics  in,  in  the  seventeenth  <sn- 
tury,  47.  Liberalism  of  the  Irish  Pa;  la- 
ment, 121-124.  Controversy  in  Ireiaud 
on  toleration  in  1725,  123  note.  Patriot- 
ism replaced  by  sectarianism,  124.  £al« 
of  English  slaves  to  the  Irish  in  the  mid- 
dle ages,.28S  note 

Isaac,  the  'wood  of  sacrifice'  borne  by,  a 
type  of  the  cross,  i.  205  note 

Isabella,  Queen  of  Spain,  her  decree  of  ban- 
ishment against  the  Jews,  ii.  2G9 

Isidore,  St.,  on  infant  baptism,  i.  803  note 

Isis,  the  Egyptian  conception  of,  transferred 
to  the.  worship  of  the  Virgin,  i.  228 

Italicug.  the  Christian,  and  the  miracle  of 
St.  llilarius.  i.  ."5 

Italy,  great  number  of  sorcerers  put  to  death 
in,  in  one  year.  i.  SO.  Goldsmith's  work 
of.  238  note.  Moral  condition  ol  Italian 
society,  and  its  influence  on  art.  in  tho 
middle  ages.  2.":!.  Chief  causes  of  the  per- 
fection attained  by  tho  Italian  painters  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  254.  Gothic  arch- 
itecture never  in  favour  in  Italy,  265  note. 
Abolition  of  torture  in,  884.  Antecedents 
of  nationalism  in  Italy.  370.  Political  in- 
fluence of  the  Italian  republics  on  public 
opinion  in  England,  ii.  145  note.  Intense 
hostility  excited  in  Italy  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion, 116.  The  Italian"  condottieri.  206. 
Foundation  of  the  'Monti  di  Picta'  in 
Italy,  249.  Usury  made  popular  by  the 
rise  of  the  Italian  republics,  254  Tolera- 
tion accorded  by  the  Italian  republics  to 
the  .lows,  272.  "The  old  tham  fights  of 
Italy.  292  iioff.  Fondness  of  the  Italians 
for  ihe  theatre.  8(>> 


I  AMES    1.    of    England,    bis   xeal   nfainst 

r]  \\ilclicraft.  i.  128.  His  law  subjecting 
\\itehe.-lodeatli  upon  the  lirst  conviction, 
121.  Presides  o\ertbe  tortures  inflicted 
on  Dr.  Fian.  124  notf.  His  infatuation 
the  .Mib'n  ct  of  wilchcnift.  1-19 

James  II..  his,  proclamation  cf  religious  ':b- 
crty.  ii.  >•<! 

Jansciiiiis.  his  book  on  the  sinl'nlness  of  al- 
liances with  heretics,  ii.  1  in 

Janiiarius.  SI.,  miracle  of.  at  Naples,  i.  159 

Japan,  success  of  persecution  shown  in  t lie 
case  of  | he  Christians  in.  ii.  14 

Jo-nils,  tyrannicide  defended  by  the.  ii.  K.I. 
'I  heir  services  to  liberalism.  l'62.  Casuis- 
try of  the  Jesuits  applied  to  the  subject  o 
iis'ury.  257.  Their  proclamation  of  tho 
'social  contract.'  ii.  1~K  Snare/.  '  I)e 
Fide.'  147.  MS.  Mariana  "Do  liege.'  150 

Jewel.  I'.ishop.  on  the  increase  of  witchcraft 
iu  England,  i.  121.  His  -Apology.'  170 

Je\\s.   Ihe   black   death   a.-cribed   to  them,  i 


INDEX. 


nu's.  the  power  of  the  Pope  for  deposing. 
i.  142.  147.    Doctrine  of  the  mediate  cliar- 


n.    Their  religion  regarded  by  some  of  | 
the  Gnostics  as  the  work  of  the  principle  i 
of  evil,  221  note.    Constantino's  pi  rsecu- 
tion  of  the,  ii.  22.     Influence  of  their  laws  : 
on    persecution,    22.      Partiality    of   the  | 
Spaniards  tor  the  burning  of  Jews,  110. 
The  whole  literature  of  the  Jews,  except  I 
the  Bible,  proposed  to  be  destroyed,  119. 
Jewish  emancipation    in    Kngland,    125.  I 
The  Jews  early  noted  as  slave-dealers,  | 
230.     Jewish  slaves  in  the  middle  ages,  j 
289  note.    Usury  almost  monopolised  by  ; 
the  Jews.  254.     The  Jews  the  first  class 
benefited    by    the    tolerance    caused    by  ! 
commerce, '203.    Persecutions  of  the  Jews, 
203.     Superstitions  concerning  them,  205  • 
note.    Controversy  in  the  middle  ages  MS  j 
to  whether  they  should  bo  permitted  to 
practise  usury,  200  -note.    Their  services 
to  literature,   207,  272.      Expelled   from 
Spain,  207.     Massacre  in  Seville  and  other 
places  in  Spain,  207,  20S.     Barbarity  of 
the  Portuguese  towards  them,  270.    Their 
commercial   activity,  272.     Tolerated   in 
the  Italian  republics,  272.     Said  to  havo 
invented  letters  of  exchange,  272  note 

Joan  of  Arc,  her  execution  for  witchcraft,  i. 
120 

John,  Fiiar,  his  success  in  promoting  the 
Inquisition  in  Italy,  ii.  117  note 

John.  St.,  legend  of  the  portrait  of,  found  in 
the  house  of  a  Christian,  i.  235  note 

Jonah  rescued  from  the  fish's  mouth,  sym- 
bol of,  i.  210 

Jovian,  the  Kmperor,  his  tolerance  of  pagan 
magic,  i.  57 

Juanes.  the  Spanish  painter,  i.  217  nnts 

Judaism,  patriotism  the  moral  principle  of, 
ii.  104,  100 

Julian,  his  attempt  to  consolidate  Xeo-Pla- 
toiiism.  i.  40  >io/f.  His  love  of  magic.  50, 
57.  His  testimony  to  the  charity  of  the 
Christians,  ii.  235.  His  antipathy  to  pub- 
lic amusements.  290 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  his  bull  against  sorcery,  i. 

82.     His  7nuu.itie.cnce  to  artists,  259 
lupitcr.  (ireek  butts  of,  i.  239  not,.     Their 
character,  244 

Jnrieu  advocates  the  lawfulness  of  persecu- 
tion, ii.  5o.  His  political  teaching,  1*7 

Jurisprudence,  phase's  of.  ii.  19} 

Jur-tin  Martyr,  his  assertion  of  the  continu- 
ance of  miracles  in  hi.-  time,  i.  10*.  Ad- 
mits tlii-  possibility  of  the  salvation  of 

Justinian,  the  Kmperor,  his  law  respecting 
usury,  ii.  253  note 


i 

aeti-r  of  the  divine  ri.-lil  of  k!n_'~.  1  17. 
The  doctrine  of  the  •  >oeial  contract.1  !  :-. 
MananaV  'lie  Uc-e.'  I5».  T\  rannicide. 
151  ,f  M-'/.  "William  Barclay's  denia. 
of  the  Pope's  power  of  deposition.  HH 

,!'»,          Doctrine    of    pa-MVC    obedience    to. 

175.  177.  Hooke-'s  doe-.rine  of  tin-  iv-al 
rower,  17s 


Kirk,  the  Scotch,  Buckle's  description  of 
the,  i.  144  note 

Kirk,  Robert,  minister  of  Aberfoil.  his  ac 
count  of  evil  spirits  among  the  Highland- 
ers, i.  14S  note 

Knowledge,  the  increase  of,  one  of  the  great 
causes  of  liberty,  ii.  202 

Knox,  John,  his  denunciation  of  the  Queen 
hearing  mass,  ii.  49.  Advocates  the  law- 
fulness of  persecution,  50,  51.  His  politi- 
cal liberalism,  103 

LABOUR,  services  of  the  Fathers  and  tho 
Benedictines  in  making  it  honourable 
ii.  231 

La  Boctie,  his  treatise  on  'Voluntary Servi- 
tude,' ii.  199.  His  revolutionary  declama- 
tions, quoted,  199,  200.  His  work  adopted 
by  the  French  Protestants  in  1578,  and 
recently  by  Lamennais,  200 

Lactantius,  his  strong  assertion  of  the  in- 
iquity of  persecution,  ii.  21.  His  peculiar 
notions,  22  note.  His  opinion  that  eccle- 
siastics should  never  cause  the  death  of 
men,  33.  His  view  of  money-lending, 
251 

Lady-day,  feast  of  Cybele  formerly  cele- 
brated" on,  i.  224 

Lamb,  the  symbol  of  Christ,  condemned  by 
a  council  '  In  Trullo,'  i.  247 

La  Mere  Sotte,  origin  of.  ii.  290  note 

Lamennais.  M.  de  Montalembert's  remarks 
on.  as  an  heresiarch.  i.  1*7  >n*f,.  His  at- 
tempt to  associate  Catholieity  with  the 
movement  of  modern  civilivition.  ii.  74 

Landry.  St.,  the  apostle  of  charity  in  France, 
ii.  235 

La  Pcyrcrc.  his  work  on  rationalistic  bibli- 
cal interpretation,  i.  ;>oo.  Analysis  of  his 
argument.  3ol  i,ntf  His  denial  of  th« 
Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch,  302 

Laplace,  on  the  argument  for  design  in  the- 
motions  of  the  planets,  i.  297  not,'.  His 
review  of  C  raig's  theory  of  probabilities, 
39S  iififi- 

Las  Casas  advocated  slavery,  ii.  3t7.  De- 
fended bv  Uiv-oirc.  Hi-hop  of  Blois,  .Ye., 
317  not,-' 

Lateral!.  Third  Council  of.  its  endeavours  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  usury,  ii.  2M 

Lateral),  Fourth  Council  of,  its  denuncia- 
tion of  heretics,  ii.  39 

Latiiiicr.  Bishop,  his  sermon  di-sTibinir  tho 
revolution  of  prices  in  F.ni:lai.-l,  ii.  31S 

Law  in  nature,  u'radna]  substiiution  i.f  tli 
conception  of.  for  thai  of  supernatural  in 

tcl'\  elltion,  i.  '-'•"> 

Lawe-;.  th unpo-er.  interred  in  \Vestmin 

.-ter  Abbey,  ii.  :iin  not, 
Lea_rne.  e\n!tation  of  the.  at  the  murder  of 

11.  nry  111.,  i!.  101 
Leannain   Sitii.  or  familiar  spirits,  common 

amon-  the  lli-lilaiioers.  i.  14-  »••(• 
l.eariiin-.  a  sthelic    .  il'ect    of  the    1V\  ival     f. 

i.  -47 

Le  t'oriMir.  on  u-'!ry.  ii.  257  ••• 
Lc  Couvivur.  the  aetre-s.  ii.  3o5.     \'oltain.N 

ode  to  lur  memory.  :;i«5 
Leii.r.it/'s  uoMoiis  of  eternal  pT-iNhmeiit.  L 

Lei;;;,  nine  w, 


INDEX, 


Lemia,  the  sorceress,  put  to  death,  i.  42 

Lentulus,  proconsul  of  Juda-a.  forged  letter 
of,  on  the  personal  appearance  of  Christ, 
i.  245  note 

Leo  I.,  Pope,  burns  the  books  of  the  Mani- 
chseans,  ii.  119 

Leo  X.,  his  munificence  to  amsts,  i.  259. 
Grounds  upon  which  he  condemned  usury, 
ii.  251  note 

Levitical  laws,  influence  of,  on  Christian 
persecution,  ii.  22.  Regarded  by  Cyprian 
as  the  foundation  of  dealings  with  here- 
tics, 28 

Lessing,  his  principles  of  biblical  criticism, 
i.  305 

Libanius.  his  pleadings  asainst  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  temples  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts, ii.  27.  His  praise  of  pantomimic 
dances.  291 

Liberty,  religious,  cursed  by  St.  Augustine, 
ii.  32  note 

Liberty,  political,  the  teaching  of  the  Fa- 
thers respecting  rebellion  favourable  to 
liberty,  ii.  139.  "As  also  the  conllicts  be- 
tween the  Pope  and  kings,  140 

Life,  insoluble  problem  of.  i.  298 

Lilith,  the  first  wife  of  Adam,  the  queen  of 
the  succubi.  i.  49  note 

Lily,  superstitious  notion  concerning,  i  225 

Limbo,  origin  of  pictures  of  the  descent 
into,  i.  222  note.  Unbaptised  children  in, 
360.  307 

Limoges,  goldsmiths1  work  of,  i.  237  Tiole 

Linnaeus,  preposterous  charge  brought 
against  his  system,  ii.  50  note 

Llorente,  his  'History  of  the  Inquisition,'  ii. 
40  note 

Locke.  John,  on  the  patristic  miracles,  i. 
If4,  ICO.  On  the  belief  in  propositions 
contrary  to  reason.  172  note.  Causes 
of  his  influence,  400.  Carpings  of  the 
Tractarian  party  at  his  psychology.  403 
note.  His  defence  of  religious  liberty,  ii. 
87.  His  answer  to  Kilmer's  doctrine  ot' 
passive  obedience,  1S1,  1S2.  On  interest, 
ii.  259 

Lombards,  their  trade  in  money,  ii.  254. 
Their  political  economy.  2s2  note 

Looking-glasses,  ladies  iisinir.  said  by  Cle- 
mens Alexandrinus  to  break  the  second 
commandment,  i.  235  note 

Lot.     t^i-K  Chance 

Lower.,  a  Suffolk  clergyman,  put  to  death 
lor  witchcraft,  i.  120 

Loyola.  Ignatius,  sets  a  day  apart  for  the 
meditation  of  eternal  damnation,  i.  320 

Lueivtius  ad.  iptod  the  theory  of  spontaneous 
u'eueration  i.  M44 

Luke.  bi..  probable  author  of  the  portraits 

of.  i.  312  nut,? 

Lullabv,'  supposed  orinin  of  the  word,  i.  49 
•>;o',' 

[juili.  the  musical  composer,  ii.  3"7 

Luther.  Martin,  his  superstitious  credulity, 
i.  33.'  His  sense  of  sin,  >2.  His  belief  in 
witchcraft.  S3.  His.  part  in  the  Kncharis- 
tie  controversy.  873.  On  salvation  in  the 
Church  alone.  :-M.  ][\<  declaration  of 
Liredc-tinayianisin.  3--5.  :l-6  nut,-.  Asserts 
sbe  riirh!  of  the  civil  mairi>trate  to  punish 
heresy,  ii.  50.  Hi~  inclination  to  the  dcs- 
potieYneory  of  LJCVcrnnient.  l'J>9 

Luthcraiiism,' almost   silent   evanescence  of 


the  distinctive  mark  of,  270.  Coa!e» 
Of  nee  of  Lutherans  anC  Calvin  ists  ii 
Prussia  and  other  parts  ol  Germany,  27C 
note 

Luxembourg,  Marshal  of,  his  trial  for  sor- 
cery, i.  118 

Luxury,  habits  of,  in  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries,  ii.  274.  Sumptuary 
laws,  274  and  note.  Influence  of  the  black 
death,  275.  Economical  effects  of  luxury 
276.  Substitution  of  luxury  for  monaft- 
ticism  as  a  check  upon  population,  277. 
Influence  of  luxury  on  intellectual  de 
velopment,  278.  And  upon  the  character 
of  public  amusements,  285 

Lycanthropy,  belief  in,  i.  96,  97.  Condemn- 
ed by  a  canon  of  the  Council  of  Ancyi-a, 
96.  Executions  in  France  for  lycanthropy 
in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  centu 
ry, 117 

MACAULAY.  Lord,  his  reason  why  the 
Puritans  objected  to  bull-baiting. "i.  308 
note.  On  the  servility  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  quoted,  ii.  174  "note 

Machinery,  movements  in  favour  of  manu- 
factures stimulated  by  the  invention  of. 
ii.  832.  Drawbacks  to  its  advantages.  833 

Magdalen  hospitals  unknown  to  the  early 
Church,  ii.  234  note 

Magic,  laws  of  the  Romans  against,  i.  43. 
Character  of.  among  the  more  civilised 
pagans.  43,  51.  Its  extraordinary  impor- 
tance in  the  patristic  teaching.  51.  The 
Emperor  Constantino's  severe  law  against 
secret  magic,  52.  The  title  'enemies  of 
the  human  race'  transferred  from  the 
Christians  to  the  magicians,  53.  Laws  of 
Constantius.  52.  Scepticism  the  only  true 
corrective  for  the  evil,  54.  The"  laws 
against  magic  suspended  under  Julian 
and  Jovian,  but  afterwards  renewed,  56. 
Causes  of  the  worst  outbreaks  of  these 
persecutions.  53.  Pomponazzi's  attempt 
to  explain  the  phenomena  of  magic  by 
the  influence  of  the  stars.  2>3  note.  Tran- 
sition of  the  old  pagan  worship  from  the 
sphere  of  religion  into  that  of  masric.  ii. 
48.  Existence  of  prohibited  pagan  magi- 
cal rites  long  after  the  suppression  of  pa- 
ganism. 44 

Mairnet.  the  discoveries  of  Gilbert  respect- 
ing the.  treated  with  contempt  by  Lord 
Bacon,  i.  292  »ffc 

Mahometans,  their  raid  against  books  oil 
logic  and  philosophy,  i.  73  mile.  Concep- 
tion some  ccnturic.-  before  the  appearance 
of  the  doctrine  in  Christianity,  'I'l^  note 

Mahometanism  the  sole  example  of  a  smut 
religion  restraining  semi-barbarian:-  from 
idolatry,  i.  234.  The  deadly  enemy  of 
art.  23(1  The  fpsthetic  genius  exhibited 
in  Mahometan  architecture,  236.  Ma- 
hometan slaves,  ii.  23s  noif 

Malebranchc.  his  account,  of  the  decadence 
in  the  belief  in  witchcraft  in  his  time.  i. 
116 

Malelieiendo.  Pprcnirer's  derivation  of  thf 
word.  i.  '-7  mite 

'Malleus  Mrilcli'';irnm.'  Hie  works  of  in 
quisitors  so  eaiied.  i.  -M/  iiotf 

Mallin;-.  iii-  ihcory  ;ind  its  consequences, fl 


INDEX. 


375 


Man :  the  ancient  notion  of  man's  position 
in  (lie  universe  displaced  by  astronomy,!. 
283.  2S4.  Effects  of  man's  sin  on  the  veg- 
etable world,  2s3  note 

Maniclueism,  outburst  of,  in  the  twelfth 
century,  i.  71.  Cardinal  tenet  of.  '240.  The 
Mosaic  cosmogony  assailed  by  the  Mani- 
clueans,  272.  St.  Augustine's  treatise  in 
answer,  273.  Their  doctrine  respecting 
the  Antipodes,  275.  Their  stranse  notion 
of  the  purification  of  the  souls  of  the 
dead,  319  note.  Their  books  burnt  bv 
Pope  Leo  I.,  ii.  113 

Manners,  the  ferocity  of,  corrected  by  Chris- 
tian charity,  ii.  282 

Mantua,  Inquisition  riots  in.  ii.  117 

Manuscripts,  beauty  of  the  illuminations  of, 
from  the  fifth  to  the  tenth  centuries,].  2:37 
vote.  Decline  of  the  art  from  this  period 
till  the  revival  of  pair  ting.  237  'note 

Mar,  earl  of.  bled  to  death  for  having  con- 
sulted witches  how  to  shorten  the  life  of 
James  II.,  i.  148  not? 

Maicellus,  his  death,  ii.  35 

Mariana,  the  Jesuit,  his  opposition  to  bull- 
i'ilhting  in  Spain,  i.  30S  note.  Account  of 
his  work  'I)e  Ke't«v  ii.  150 

Mariolatry.     See  Vi'-gin 

Martin,  St.,  of  Tours,  his  denunciation  of 
the  execution  of  some  heretics,  ii.  33.  His 
destruction  of  pagan  temples,  33  note 

Martyrdoms,  only  one  or  two  representa- 
tions of,  in  the  catacombs,  i.  212 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  her  execution  for 
idolatry  advocated  by  Con  vocation,  ii.  5t) 
note 

Maryland,  religious  liberty  established  In, 
by  Lord  IJaltimore.  ii.  51) 

Masques.  Knalish.  ii.  ."'il 

Massachusetts,  executions  for  witchcraft  in, 
i.  33 

Massalians.  a  sect  of  h'Tetics.  regard  spit- 
ting as  a  religious  exercise,  i.  4s 

Massius,  Bishop  Gilbert,  his  portrait,  i.  227 
note 

Materialism  of  the  middle  aces.  i.  3-13  Two 
schools  of.  343.  Causes  of  the  tenduicy 
towards.  at  the  present  day.  3ou;  ii.  35(i  ' 

Matheniaticus.  a  name  triven  to  astrologers, 
i.  <;5  -n  off 

Mather.  Cotton,  creates  a  panic  respecting 
witchcraft  in  America,  i.  137.  13> 

Matilda.  Countess,  intluencc  of  her  tomb  on 
the  works  of  Nicolas  of  I'i.-a.  i.  '25- 

Matter,  the  essential  evil  of.  the  cardinal 
tenet  of  Gnosticism  and  .\laniclia-isin.  i. 
•J4.H.  V.'hy  matter  attr.icts  matter.  an  in- 
soluble problem,  2'JS.  Kclation  of  mind 
to  matter.  2!N 

Mayence.  great  numbers  of  Jews  put  to 
death  in,  i.  77 

Mayence.  a  bcirtrar  put  to  death  for  son-cry 
at.  in  l-o7.  i.  311  „,*,- 

Mnynooth,  college  of,  endowment  of  the.  ii. 
123 

Mazarin.  Cardinal,  his  letter  to  the  bishop  of 
Kvn-tix  on  ihe  execution  of  witches,  i.  i  17 

Mazarine   library.  Naudc.   the  first    libraria:i 

of  the.  i.  115  n'ltf 
Medici,    their   archa-ologiml    collections,   i. 


Media?valism.  the  sense  of  sin  the  chief 
moral  agent  of.  ii.  19<> 

Melanchlhon,  Philip,  notions  on  wilheraft,!. 
33  note.  His  remarks  on  the  question  of 
the  cause  of  the  difference  of  sex.  i.  343. 
His  predcstinarian  views,  380  note.  Ilia 
approval  of  the  murder  of  Servetus,  ii.  52. 
His  definition  of  usury.  247  note 

Melito.  St.,  bishop  of  Sardis,  his  'Clavis,'  L 
273  note 

Memory,  cases  of  hypersesthesia  of  the,  il. 
!>7  note 

Mesmer,  the  cures  of.  attributed  to  super- 
natural aireney.  i.  11!' 

Mice.  Van  llelniout's  receipt  for  producing, 
i.  345  note.  St.  Auirustine  on  the  exist- 
ence of.  345  not? 

Michael  Angela,  his  admiration  for  the  tor*o 
I'.elvedere.  i.'J.'O.  His  Moses  and  David, 
259  nolf.  The  secularisation  cf  art  repre- 
sented to  the  Inchest  degree  by  Michael 
Anirelo.  2D1 

Middle-ton.  Dr.  ConyerF.  his  'Free  Inquiry 
into  the  Miraculous  Powers.1  Ac..  Ifi(i.l09 
Diseussir.n  of  his  principles  bv  Church 
Dodwell.  &c..  1T2 

Milan  Cathedral,  ridicule  with  which  it  vas 
regarded  in  the  last  century,  i.  '204  nrte 
Inquisition  riots  in  Milan,  ii.  110 

Milton.  John,  his  advocacy  of  the  rights  of 
conscience,  ii.  80  ;/'//V. -1.  His  •  Areopa- 
gitica.'  si  note.  His  intolerance  of  Cath- 
olics, 82  and  note.  On  regal  power.  1-1 

Minerva,  in  Greek  statues,  a  type  of  female 
7nodes!y  and  self-control,  i.  -243 

Miniature  painting  common  long  before  the 
time  of  Cimabuc.  i.  '237  note 

Minos.  ehai:T"nr  of  the  Greek  representa- 
tions of.  i.  -241 

Minutius  r'eiix.  his  remarks  on  eternal  pun- 
ishments, quoted,  i.  317  note.  Hi.-  opin- 
ion of  the  d:;-mon  of  S.crates.  377  n»tf 

Miracles  of  the  Church,  i.  155.  Views  of 
Koman  Catholic-  ami  1'p'ie-iants  n-spert- 
inur  miracles.  155.  15i\  Mirael,  s  related 
bv  (lie  Fatliers  and  medi.eval  writers  as 


••led 


id  ordi 


<•/  xti/.  riapid  growth  of  scei>tii-i.-m  on 
the  subject  since  the  llelonnaiion.  15;i. 
General  tone  adopted  by  Koman  I'atholics 
respe--tiii4r  miracles.  lt»i.  Causes  of  tin- 
decline  of  the  sense  of  the  miraculous, 
1(11.  Disbelief  in  the  miraculous  in  di- 
rect proportion  to  the  pro.'iv---  of  civili.-;l- 
tir.n  and  ditfu-ion  of  knou  ieil-e.  Iii2.  l.f- 
fecl  of  civilisation  c'li  couteinptirary  as 
c'ompared  \\\\\i  historical  miracle.-.  I''>2. 
1'ers'ectition  regarded  by  >om,-  Kn^'Msh 
(l:\inc-  a>  a  -ub-litute  i'or  miracles.  H4. 
Miildli  ton's  afack  ii].on  the  vert'.city  of 
the  palri-tic  miracle-,  li.'.i.  rpi'or.,,-  of 
the  common  ariruunnt-  in  favour  "f  the 
ce-sal'on  01  Tiiiracl,  -.  1 75.  ST.  Aui'h-- 
tine's  belief  in  the  mirade?  u:-..:!_-ht  !•>• 

ilh-   relics  of    >t.    Sic   pile  II.    17-   !"''•.       .\\ir- 

si'i!i  io  the  miraculous  a  di-tijicrvr-  n  ark 
of  Ilationali-m.  I-:!.  Cr!_-iu  :\\\>\  •!•  <v;'* 
of  ihe  evidential  school  in  Fii-land.  1-',' 
Tendency  amon-  th-  e\  id.-uti;:'.  -'..<  -i  'o 
meet  !he  nationalists  lialf  way.  1!'2.  -urn- 
miry  of  the'  -ta_vs.  of  Ka;  i,.naii-m  in  it> 
T'  i:.!i"ii  to  the  niiraeuloi:-.  !!l:l 
M»lKre.  deii.jiinei.-d  b\  th,  Church,  ji.  JoG 


376 


INDEX. 


Molina,  tils  defence  of  tyrannicide,  ii.  160 

Molinams,  Carolus,  his  remarks  on  money- 
lending,  quoted,  ii.  256  note 

Monasticism,   its  influence   in   stimulating 
persecution,  ii.  34,  35.     Enthusiasm  of  the 
first  monks,  35.    Substitution  of  luxury 
for  monasticism  as  a  check  upon  popula- 
tion, 277.     Causes  of  the  decadence  ofthe  ; 
monastic  spirit.  279.     Amusements  in  the 
monasteries,  293,  294.     Effect  of  monasti- 
cism on  the  downfall  of  Spain,  316.     Its 
Incompatibility  with  industry,  317.     Sit-  • 
premaey  of  asceticism  till  tho  fourteenth  , 
century,  343.     The  Therapeutes,  34S  note.  I 
Decline  of  asceticism,  341),  351 

Money-lending,     fa.e  Interest;  Usury 

Monks,   their  influence  in   making   labour  : 
honourable,  ii.  232 

Montaigne,  his  scepticism  about  witchcraft,  ; 
i.  lot)  ii'ite.     The  first  great  sceptical  wri- 
ter in  France.  111.     An  opponent  of  tor-  j 
ture,  333  and  note.    His  remarks  on  Castel-  i 
lio.  ii.  50.  His  notice  ofthe  subordination  of 
opinions  to  interests  in  France,  193.     His 
political  conservatism.  220 

Montesquieu,  his  denunciation  of  torture,  i. 
3!3.  His  remarks  on  the  scholastic  wri- 
tings on  usury,  ii.  253  note 

'Monti  di  1'ieta,1  foundation  of  the,  in  Italy, 
ii.  211) 

Moors,  influence  on  Christendom,  ii.  2S4 

Moralities.     See.  Plays,  religious  ;  Theatre 

Morals:  moral  development  accompanies 
the  intellectual  movement  of  societies,  i. 
300.  Rewards  and  punishments  more  and 
more  necessarv  as  we  descend  the  intel- 
lectual scale.  3o7.  Illustrations  of  the  na- 
ture of  moral  development,  307.  Moral 
genius,  310.  Relations  of  theology  to 
morals.  310.  Their  complete  separation 
in  antiquity,  311.  Originality  ofthe  moral 
type  of  Christianity,  311.  Evanescence 
of  duties  unconnected  with  our  moral  na- 
ture. 314.  Immorality  not  so  severely 
condemned  by  theologians  as  error.  315 
note.  Injurious  effect  of  the  doctiine  of 
exclusive  salvation  on.  3VJ 

More,  Henry,  his  support  of  the  views  of 
Glanvil  oil  witchcraft,  i.  130 

More-,  Sir  Thomas,  his  fondness  for  cock- 
throwiriL'.  i.  3U7  note.  Extols  toleration 
in  his  :  Utopia.'  ii.  51 1 

Morcllet,  his  translation  of  IVccaria.  i.  331 

Morocco,  recent  inva.-ion  of,  by  the  Span- 
iards, religious  fanaticism  shown  in  the.  ii. 
110  not,; 

Morton,  Dr..  saves  the  life  of  an  alleged 
witch,  i.  Ill  | 

Mor/ines,  the  alleged  supernatural  causes  of 
a  recent  epidemic  at.  i.  32  tio/e 

Mosaic  work.  Greek  school  of.  established  at, 
Monte  CasMno.  i,  237.  The  earliest  speci- 
men of  Christian  mosaic,  237  noti:  Speci- 
mens in  the  church  of  St.  Vilale  at  liaveii- 
na.  257  note.  The  art  lost  lor  three  cen- 
turies preceding  the  establishment  of  the 
Monte  Casino  school.  237  lint,-. 

MOM-S.  his  rod  a  tvpe  of  the  Cross,  accord- 
ing to  llede.  i.  205  note. 

Moses  strikiii":  the  rock,  carlv  Christian 
symbol  of.  i.  210 

Motile,  IFue!'n<:  <ie  In.  his  punishment  for 
defending  actors,  ii.  3u7 


Mothers,  societies  for  the  succour  of  Indi 
gent,  ii.  234  note 

Mini,  Thomas,  his  defence  of  the  mercantile 
system,  ii.  327  note 

Music,  causes  of  the  partial  secularisation 
ot,  ii.  300.  Its  successive  stages,  300 

Musical  instruments:  origin  of  the  organ, 
and  its  introduction  into  the  Western 
Empire,  i.  262.  The  hydrauiicnr,  262  not* 

Muzarclli  on  persecution,  i.  105  note 

Mysteries.    See  Plays,  religious ;  Theatre 

Mysticism  of  the  fourteenth  century,  im- 
pulse given  by  it  to  psychology,  i.  344. 
Its  popularity  in  Germany,  344.  The 
Bible  of  mysticism,  344 


N" ANTES,  Edict  of,  publication  of  the,  ii. 
69.  Revocation  of  the,  69 

Naples,  resistance  of  the  king  and  people  of, 
to  the  Inquisition,  ii.  113,  116  ' 

Nationalities,  doctrine  of  the  rights  of,  ii. 
218 

Naudc,  his  '  Apologie.1  i.  115  note.  His  ex- 
posure of  the  Kosicrucians,  115  note.  Be- 
comes first  librarian  of  the  Mazarine  li- 
brary, 115  note.  Reconstructs  some  of  tho 
dances  ofthe  ancients,  115  note 

Navigation  laws,  origin  ofthe,  ii.  281 

Neo-Platonists,  their  doctrines,  i.  304 

Nero,  hi.s  attempt  to  relieve  actors  from  the 
stigma  attached  to  them,  ii.  2SS  note 

Nestorian  controversy,  discussions  on  tho 
mystery  of  the  Incarnation  (luring  the,  i. 
224.  304"  note.  Saying  of  Ncstorius  to  the 
Emperor,  ii.  22  note.  The  works  of  Nes- 
torious  prohibited  by  Theodosius,  119 

Netherlands,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the,  con- 
demned to  death  as  heretics,  ii.  41  note. 
Love  of  free  discussion  early  generated  in, 
119 

Newton.  Sir  Isaac,  his  remarks  on  miracles, 
quoted,  i.  100.  His  method  and  mental 
character  opposed  to  those  of  Lord  Bacon, 
292  -not a 

Newman.  Dr.,  on  pious  frauds,  quoted,  i. 
391  note 

Nice,  Council  of.  on  usury,  ii.  247  note 

Nice.  Second  Council  of.  censures  the  heresy 
ofthe  Iconoclasts.!.  23o.  Its  decrees  con- 
temptuously stigmatised  by  Charlemagne 
and  the  Galilean  Church,  231.  Discussions 
connected  with  this  council,  231  imte 

Nic.  phoriis.  notices  the  resemblance  of 
Christ  to  his  mother,  i.  224  note. 

Nicodeiims,  apocn  phal  gospel  of.  its  influ- 
cnc  •  over  Christian  art.  i.  222  note 

Nicolas  of  i'isa.  revives  the  studv  of  ancient 
sculpture,  i.  210,  25? 

Niebiihr.  lii>  remark  on  the  Song  of  Solo- 
loon,  ii.  53  not<- 

Nightmare  associated  with  the  belief  in  de- 
mons, i.  49  note.  Notion  of  the  Greeks 
i-c  spectinsr  nightmare.  5o  note 

Noah.  Vesla  his  wife  according  to  the  Cabal- 
is;-,  i.  07  noti'.  Symbol  of  receiving  the 
dove  into  his  breast.  210 

Noodi.  influence  of  the  Roman  law  on  hit 
political  te;ichiiiL'.  ii.  191  and  note 

North.  Diidh-v,  his  work  on  commerce,  Ji 
315  not,- 

Novaliatis.  allowed  to  celebrate   their   woi 


INDLX. 


3(7 


Syiuphs,  notions  of  the  e-irly  Christians  re- 
specting them,  i.  4S 


view 

subject  in  the  sixteenth  century.  1^1  ; 
4  Ilishop  Overall's  Convocation  15ook,' 
note 

Oehino,  the  Socinian,  his  dialogues  trans- 
lated by  Castellio,  ii.  53  note 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  his  elforts  for  religious 
liberty,  ii.  125 

Oldlicld,  Mrs.,  the  actress,  ii.  310  note, 

Opera,  creation  of  the,  ii.  30 1.  In  Italy,  301. 
In  France  and  F.ugland,  301.  The  pesti- 
lence ascribed  to  it,  3u8 

Ophites,  their  worship  of  the  serpent,  i.  220 
note 

Opinions,  true  causes  of.  ii.  20 

Optatus,  his  grounds  for  advocating  the 
massacre  of  the  Donati.-ts,  ii.  23  note 

Orauu'e,  the  Koman  theatre  of,  ii.  303  not& 

Oratorio,  origin  of  the,  ii.  3i>l 

Oruagna.  his  picture  of  Averroes.  at  Pisa.  i. 
71  note.  His  'Triumph  of  Death,'  343 
11 1  ii  p 


note 

Orirans.  said  to  have  been  first  used  in  the 
(jreek  Church,  i.  202.  The  hydraulicoii, 
2(12  not?.  The  bagpipe,  202  note 


3i>2.     Hi.-  views  of  the  condemnation  ot 

all  external  to  the  Church,  37'i 
DrUaus.  duke  of.  justification  of  the  murder 

of.  by  -lean    1'etit.  ii.  15i 
Drpheils.   regarded   a-   a   symbol   of  (he  at- 

irn-tive  in  ;  wer  of  < 'lipist.inn  it  v    i.  -'\-i 


Tpneus.  re^arueu  as  a  s\mnoi  01  me  at- 
tractive power  of  Christianity,  i.  214 

'xford.  l"niver:-ily  of.  its  opposition  to  al- 
mo-t  every  Mep  made  by  Knu'lish  intellect 
ill  connection  with  th.'oloL'y.  i.  173.  In- 
stances of  this  oppo>ilion  iu  the  cases  of 
the  I'est  Act  and  Catholic  Kniancipatiou. 
and  in  the  threat  react ioiiarv  niovemeiit 


aud  in  the  iiivat  reactionary  moveiiieiit 
betrun  in  I>33,  17-.  171.  Opposition  of  the 
L'n'iver-ity  of  Oxford  to  ivIL'ious  liberty, 
ii.  Mi.  Doctrine  of  passive  obedience,  laid 
down  1>\  the.  !75  nut, .  Its  ,1,-eree  on  this 
subject  burnt  by  the.  House  of  hords, 


p.\C,A\lSM.  how  regarded  by  the  early 
I  Christians,  i.  -l.'i.  The  iiiini'-diate  "h- 
jects  of  the  devotions  of  ilu-  pairau  world 
according  to  the  Neo-P!atonie  i-.-lmol.  -lii. 
Laws  of  Constaiiiine  and  (  oiislantiils.  52. 
Com]iroinise  betweeti  (.  hri.-t  ia:iity  and 
paurauiMii.  •">;(.  Continiianee  "f  the  p.iu'an 
rite.-  in  the  form  i>f  ni:i^:e.  r,i|  l-Aurei-ts 
4111011^'  the  pagans,  l.'ii'.  not,.  ]-'.l!'ict  of 
p;iL-an  traditions  upon  rarl\  Chri-tian  art. 
1:11.  <eiitiiiii'iits  of  t'le  Fathers  on  the 
damnation  of  the  heathen.  -77.  1'oliey 
of  Coii.-iMiilino  to\v;ri\ls  th.-  [i.iL'atis,  ii.  .'•'!. 
l'o.-itio;i  of  the  [la^-au-  ard  of  tin-  uro\'ern- 
uienl  towards  them  at  tin-  pei-'.'d.  -J.">. 
Uevi  ;\v  of  theii  condition  before  the  time 


of  Thcodosius.  2G.  nestruction  of  their 
temples  in  the  country  districts.  '^6.  Pro- 
hibitions of  Thcodosius  the  Croat,  '^7. 
Destruction  of  temples  by  rit.  Martiu  of 
Tours.  33  note.  Kuin  of  paganism,  3.5. 
The  pagan  parallels  to  the  Christian  mar- 
tyrs, 10^.  Type  of  character  formed  by 
pafan  patriotism,  lOi  Synthesis  of  tho 
moral  principles  of  Christianity  and  pa- 
ganisD),  '-'20.  The  theatre  the  last  refuge 
of  paganism.  '2-'J 

Painting,  a  faithful  mirror  of  the  popular 
mind,  before  the  invention  of  printing.  ;. 
74  iiotf.  Its  iulliience  in  strengthening 
the  worship  of  the  Virgin,  -.4.  1'ecnliar 
characteristics,  and  chiet  causes  of  artistic 
perfection  of  later  Italian  works.  '2.V3.  Sen- 
suality favourable  to  painting,  'J.'^.  Influ- 
ence of  Venetian  sensuality,  'J54.  Dis- 
covery of  oil  colours,  'J.V>  note.  Their  in- 
troduction into  Italy,  25(5.  Complete  sec- 
ularisation of  the  art  after  the  death  of 
Savonarola.  '201.  Devotion  of  the  monks 
of  St.  JJasil  to  paintinir.  ii.  -:5'2 

Palestrina.  his  Church  music,  ii.  301 

Palmer,  Mr.,  his  collection  of  evidence  on 
the  views  of  tho  Fathers  as  to  original 
sin.  i.  377  mrfe 

Pan.  (ireek  statues  of.  i.  2'2!»  note 

Paneas  in  Phoenicia,  the  miraculous  image 
of  Christ  at.  i.  22U 

Pantomimic  dance-.  Libanius1  praise  of.  ii. 
21' I.  Origin  of  pantomime  in  Italy,  '-".'7 

Paiticelsus.  his  belief  in  the  existence  of 
sylphs,  ovc..  i.  (17  imf,-.  His  attempt  to 
overcome  the  popular  .superstitions  re- 
spectin^  comets.  -.".I! 

Paramo,  an  Inquisitor,  his  remark  on  tho 
Inquisition,  ii.  42  note 

Paris,  ureat  niiinbers  of  witches  put  to  death 
in.  i.  3u 

Paris.  Abb-,  miraeles  at  the  tomb  of,  i. 
ISO 

Parma.  Inquisition  riots  in.  ii.  lli'i 

Pa<cal.  lllaisi'.  on  the  iieeessity  of  infant 
b:i])ii-;n.  i.  ::'lii  /'"'•.  <>n  the  utler  vanity 
of  philosophy.  37ii  note.  His  doe;rine  of 
|irobabilitie>  applied  to  ivIL-ioi^  systems, 

H'.IS 

Patriotism,  on.*  of  the  chief  moral  princi- 
ples ui'  ^o,'i.t\-.  i!.  p'_'.  Type  of  charac'.er 
it  formed.  Io3.  lireate-t'vioe  of  aneieiit 
]ialrioti>m.  |o|.  Pairioii-m  th-  m..r:.l 
jiiinciple  oi'  .Itidai-ni.  l"l,  I11'!.  In  liie. 
Jfomaii  I'liijiir.-.  I  oil.  (  cTn'Spondeiiee  of 
p.'itrioi  i-m  in  ill,,  -pirit  o:'  s<  rt  in  religion, 
I'"'..  Ineompaiil.iiity  of  seelariani-m  with 
patriot  i-m.  1  -''> 

Pa';il  i  I..  I'opf.  hi.-  p.  rs.  eution'  of  artists  at 

Paul    IV..  IVpe.  originates   ti.e   'Index   Kx- 

piirjatoriu-.'  :i.  1 1'.1 

Pan!  tile  II.  nnit.  miracles  r.l;.;,  ,1  of.  i.  156 
Pa:i!mn-.  bi-iiop   of  Xola.   said   ;o   have   iu 

v,  tiled  church  b,  11-.  i.  •2<1.2 

I';l\  i.i.  fre-eo  in   i  ':,.   mnli.l-ti  I'V   of.   i.   :;-"i 

Pi-aeo'-k.  the  s\  ml<ol  o!  imni' .rtaiity  ..nioi'-i 
pa_':'.hs  and  "the  e.irlv  I  M-i-li.i!.-,  i.  2I:> 
\Vliy  -o  r.  _';irdi  d.  213'.  -Jll  ;,..,-, 

Pela.i;:-.  id-  M.  w  ..[    |;ri'.,n;    bapti-m.  i.  3il| 


378 


TNDEX. 


penal  systems  under  the  influence  of  the 
clergy,  836  note.  Constant  tendency  in 
the  advance  of  civilisation  to  mitigate  the 
severity  of  f  ena.  codes.  336.  Part  taken 
by  the'ologians  in  mitigating  the  penal 
code.  349.  Influence  of  Beet-aria.  350 

Penance,  public,  question  of  the  right  of  the 
Pope  to  condemn  criminals  to.  ii.  143 

Pentateuch,  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the, 
denied  by  La  Pcyrcre,  i.  302 

Perez.  Antonio,  famous  prosecution  of.  ii. 
118 

i'eriandcr,  tyrant  of  Corinth,  story  of  He- 
rodotus o£  i.  3-20  note 

Perron.  Cardinal,  his  assertion  of  Ultramon- 
tane principles,  ii.  105 

Persecution,  religious,  revival  of,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  thirteenth  century,  i.  74. 
Regarded  by  some  Knglish  divines  as  a 
substitute  for  miracles,  156.  The  emo- 
tional antecedent  of  persecution,  831.  Per- 
secution the  result  of  the  principles  pro- 
fessed by  the  persecutors,  350.  The  his- 
tory of  persecution,  ii.  11  c-t  *<-q.  Injury 
(lone  to  industry  by  persecution.  273 

Persians,  intliiriiec  of  the  national  religion 
on  the  art  of  the  ancient,  i.  209,  210  note 

Per.igino,  his  scepticism,  i.  201 

Pestilences,  effects  of.  on  the  superstitions 
of  the  dark  ages.  i.  03.  Said  to  have  been 
produced  by  the  power  of  tile  devil.  92 

Peter  of  Apoim,  denied  the  existence  of  de- 
mcns  and  miracles,  i.  lt;8  note.  Accused 
of  rnairic,  103  note 

Peter.  St..  with  the  wand  of  power,  early 
Christian  symbol  of.  i.  21  ii 

Petit.  Jean,  justifies  the  murder  of  the  Puke 
of  Orleans,  ii.  15!).  His  justification  de- 
nounced by  Gcrson  and  the  Council  of 
Constance,"l59 

Petrarch  gives  nn  impulse  to  archaeological 
collections,  i.  25*. 

Phidias,  liis  colossal  statue  of  Jupiter  Olym- 
pus, i.  25s 

Philanthropy,  boundless,  of  modern  Ckris- 
tia-.iity.  i.  bl'.l 

Philip  II.  of  r-pain.  Dutch  heretics  put  to 
death  duriiiL'  his  rci_'n.  ii.  41 

Philip  Xeri,  St.,  originates  the  oratorio,  ii. 
81)] 

Philosophers  chai-jvd  by  the  Abb-  Fiard 
v.-ith  being  the  representatives  of  the  old 
Sorcerer.-,  i.  1 1'.1 

Philosophy,  mural,  ils  progress  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  di-elinc  i'if  the  mcdhi-val  110- 
tions  of  hell.  i.  :>;-.  '1  he  Seli.-e  of  virtue 
appealed  to  most  stro:  •_'!>'  by  the  philos>- 
jihies  of  Give<-e  ;in<l  Uoiiie,  356.  Kevhal 
of  the  sense  of  truth  due  to  the  secular 

philosopher.-  of  the    seventeenth    Celltliry, 

y>'9.  The  Miperiontv  of  the  inductive 
method  a>M-ried  by  'Leonardo  da  Vinci. 
4011.  Hamusaml  Bruno.  401.  The  decline 

Ot'   lheolo_'ie;;l     belief    a     IlcCeSSarV     ailteee- 

deui  of  the  sucees.-  of  the  inductive  meth- 
od, Vi2.-J.o3.  1),-  MiiiMre'srcMiarkst.n  l.oeke 
an-.  Bacon's  p|iiln-,i|,i,y.  40:!  ;,«/,.  Aver- 
sion ot  the  'Iractarian  partv  to  buth.  -103 
11,  it,: 

Phrvno.  the  misiiv-.-.-,  of  Praxiteles,  i.   250 

note 

(*;(•',  1,  r,  his  \  Jews  on  usury,  ii.  '_'">7 
Picture*,  .-tage.-  of  the  veneration  lor,  i.  22*. 


Decree  of  the  Council  of  \\\  berls  against 
pictures  in  churches,  229.  Admitted  by 
the  Greeks  into  their  churches,  230.  The 
introduction  of  pictures  into  their  churches 
forbidden  by  the  Christians  of  Alexandria, 
233 

Pinel,  the  philosophy  of  midness  mainly 
due  to,  i.  36 

Piracy,  suppression  of,  by  the  Hanseatie 
Leacue.  ii.  2S2 

Pius  V.,  Pope,  his  prohibition  of  ball-fight- 
ing,  i.  SOS  note 

Plague,  the,  attributed  to  the  theatres,  ii. 
308  note 

Plato.  infinence.«of  his  philosophy  in  favour 
ing  a  belief  in  evil  spirits,  i.  43.  His  no- 
tion of  hell,  319.  His  denunciation  of 
trade,  ii.  224 

Platonists,  their  idea  of  the  soul,  i  340,  841 
note 

Plays,  religious,  rise  of  the.  ii.  293.  Account 
of  them,  293.  Their  immorality,  £95.  Ihe 
great  'passion  play'  of  Obefammergau, 
299  note 

Plotinus,  a  Neo  -  Platonic  philosopher 
ashamed  of  possessing  a  body,  i.  240 

Plunket.  the  Act  of  Union,  ii.  1S2  note 

Pluto.  Greek  representations  of,  i.  '244 

Political  economy,  influence  of,  on  democra- 
cy. ii.  207.  Free-trade  notions  in  France 
before  the  '"\Vealth  of  Nations.'  20S.  L'n- 
lichtencd  views  of  the  Venetians,  2S2  :  of 
the  Lombards.  2S2  note.  The  first  pio- 
fessorship  founded  at  Naples,  2  S3  nulc 
Schools  of  Sully  and  Colbert,  326.  327 
That  of  Qnesnay,  827.  Berkeley's  expo- 
sition of  the  true  nature  of  money.  .'.2; 
•note.  Krror  of  the  French  economists. 
32S.  Adam  Smith  on  manufactures  and 
agriculture.  32-\  l!aynal's  views.  3.-X 
Kicanlo.  331.  Invention  of  credit.  332 
Political  economy  an  expression  of  an  in 
dttstrial  civilisation.  335.  Its  pacific  in- 
fluence. 335.  -'(4o.  Scheme  of  progress  re- 
ve  iled  by  ]io!itical  economy,  34*.  35(1 

Politics,  secularisation  of.  ii.  (59  ft  ffij. 

l'(;lo.  Marco,  liis  notice  of  tea  ill  the  Ihir 
teelith  century,  ii.  322 

Poly  carp.  St..  miracle  of.  i.  105 

Polycles.  the  sculptor,  introduces  th«  ht-r- 
maphrodite  into  art.  i.  250  note 

Pompouatius.  his  speculations,  i.  370 

Pope,  decline  of  the  temporal  power  of  the, 
ii.  i3i  I.  Causes  of  its  decline.  130.  Origin 
of  his  power  in  home.  1-10.'  The  Pope's 
p<>w(r  of  depoMii;.'  sovereigns.  14-'.  140. 
Mora!  authority  nee,  s.-arily  with  the  Pope, 
142.  'i4->.  liis  rL'ht  to  (oiiih-mn  criminals 
to  public  penance.  143.  His  power  v\  er 
the  temporal  ]  o.-ses^ions  of  jiniici-.-  ileided 
by  Vi  illiam  Barclay.  KM.  Attitude  of  the 
Protestants  of  France  in  1015  on  this 

•  [liestioU.  1('5 

Pojiulat'on.  doctrine  of  Malthus  on.  ii.  '277 
Sub.-iitulion  of  luxury  for  mouastic•^ul  as 
a  check  upon.  ii.  277 

Posiiivi>m.  fir-t  princiidi-s  of.  ii.  "50  ;-(-/.. 
C'haracter  of  the  leadin-.'  positivists.  356 


Possada.  Fatlur.  his  ojiposition  to  the  thea 


Pottirs.  Abyssiiii;'ti  superstition  respecting 


INDEX.  379 

PoTerty,  cause  of  the  decline  of  the  ideal  of,  Purgatory,  doctrine  of,  i.  320 

ii.  274  Puritans,  their  bo  lief  in  witchcraft  during 

Poynet,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  his  advocacy  the   Commonwealth,   i.    125,    120.     Their 

of  sedition  and  tyrannicide,  il.  174  ?iofe  prosecutions  for  witchcraft  in   America, 

Praxiteles,  Titian  compared   with,   i.   25(5.  137,  138.    Scotch  witchcraft  the  result  of 

Said  to  have  definitively  given  the  char-  Scotch  Puritanism,  14',).     Reason,  aecord- 

acter  of  sensuality  to  Venus,  25C  note  ing  to  Macaulay,  why  they  objected  to 

Predestinarianism,  influence  of  the  doctrine  bull-baiting,  Site  note.    Their  intolerance 

of  exclusive  salvation  on,  i.  338.     Calvin's  in  Maryland,  ii.  51).     Debt  England  owes 

theory  of,  substantially  held  by  St.  An-  to  the  Puritan?.  173 

gustine,  383.      Luther's  dechuation    and  Pythagoras,  his  elaboration  of  a  doctrine  of 

Erasmus's  opposition,  3S5.     The  doctrine  hell,  i.  31!) 

of  double  predestination  held  in  the  ninth  Pythagoreans,  theory  of  the.  respecting  tho 

century.  3s5   note.     Views   of   Melanch-  rise  of  religions,  i.  3U4 
thon,  oSG   not,-.      Calvin   and   IVza,   ffe7 
note.    The  doctrine  assailed,  ii.  54 

Presbyterianism,  persecuted  in  Scotland,  ii.  AT.'AKEIIISM',  religious  toleration  of,  it 

4S.     Intolerance  of  the  Presbyterians  in  V^     M 

England  in  the  seventeenth  century.  79.  Qucsnay,  the  school  of,  ii.  "27 
Efforts  of  the  Scotch  to  suppress  liberty 
of  conscience,  SO  note.    Its  tendency  com- 
pared with  trial  of  Kpiscopaliauisir,  lib  |)  ADl'LAIS,  his  ridicule  of  the  attempt  to 

Prickers  of  witches,  profession  of,  in.  Scot-  1\     mould  the  classical  writings  into  tho 

land.  i.  140  image  of  medievalism,  ii.  !'.»->  imft 

Printing,  servitude  and  superstition   abol-  Ewcme,  his  fear  of  the  censure  of  the  Church, 

ished  by,  ii.  2<>3.  204  ii.  :jiil 

Proas  t,  Archdeacon,  his  opposition  to  reli^-  Itamus,    his    philosophical  speculations,   i. 

ion*  liberty,  ii.  s7  4M1.     Hi*  end.  4ol 

Protestants,  "their  distrust  and  aversion  for  Kapbael.  his  portrait  of  Savonarola,  i.  2fil 

contemporary   miracles,    i.  15."),   15t>,  lt».  Rationalism:  first  evidence  of  a  nationalistic 

Their  views  respecting  historical  miracles,  "     spirit  in  Europe,  i.  103.     Development  of 

l(io  Continental  Protestantism  into  Rational- 

Protestantism .  causes  of  the  extraordinary  ism.  1M.  Aversion  to  the  miraculous,  a 
strides  made  by  Rationalism  in  most  distinctive  mark  of  nationalism.  1S3.  Ra- 
Protestant  countries,  i.  1,-d.  The  do_'tna-  tionalistic  tendencies  in  Roman  Catholic 
tic  forms  of  Protestantism  of  the  sixteenth  countries.  l~4.  Tendency  uf  ilie  Eviden- 
and  seventeenth  centuries  superseded  ti:il  school  to  meet  the  Rationalist*  half 
by  Protestant  nationalism.  1SJ.  Dogmatic  way,  !'.'_'.  Summary  of  t'i  •  Mages  of  I.'a- 
character  of  early  Protestantism,  i.  :jti;i.  tionaiism  in  its  relation  to  tho  miraculous, 
Tile  representatives  of  Rational!:  m  in  i!ie  !'.!:>.  lls  iiillnence  on  Christianity.  I'.''.'. 
first  period  of  Protestantism:  Socinusand  ,  ^M»thetic,  scieiititie.  and  moral  devclop- 
Xuinglius.  ;!ti',i.  Success  of  persecution  in  incuts  of  Rationalism.  •_'•>•_>.  Re>ulrs  from 
extirpating  Protestantism  from  Spain  and  the  totality  of  the  inthu  nees  of  civili-a- 
Kranee.  ii.  11.  Piotestant  jiersecutions  ti:«n.  271.  And  from  the  encroachment- of 
compaivd  with  that  of  Catlioli.-imii.  07  if  physical  scieiK-e  on  the  old  conceptions  of 
*,'/.  I:i  I'rjtesiant  countries,  tolerance  the  government  of  the  universe.  271. 
the  result  and  measure  of  the  advance  of  Soeinits  and  Zu!tiLrIiiis  the  i>  [.re>Li.tativeS 
Rationalism.  75.  Attitude  of  the  Protes-  of  Rationalism  in  the  lirst  period  of  Prol- 
iant* in  l-'rance  in  lt',15  respi'ctinir  llie  e.-tantism.  '•>(>'.>.  Antecedents  of  Italian 
i'apal  power.  1(>5.  Democracy  .favoured  Rationalism,  o7n.  In  Prote.-tant  coiin- 
by  I'rote.-tantism,  1H7.  Place'of  Pro!.,  s-  tries,  tolerance  the  resr.lt  and  measure  of 
tantism  in  the  development  of  English  nationalism.  370.  Review  of  the  intluunco 
liberty.  1-^1.  Two  di.-linet  currents  in  the  of  Rationalism  on  the  iiuthod  of  inipiiry. 
political  teaching  of  the  French  Proles-  ii.  '.io-;i«i.  Relation  of  the  Rationalistic 
'.ants.  1-^(3.  CinMimstances  that  diminish  niovenient  to  the  political  and  economical 
the  influence  of  the  1'reiich  Protestants,  iii-tory  of  Kttivpe.  loo.  See:;lari-.u  ion  of 
1>7  politics,  lol  ,/«,.,/  'Ihe  indu.>:r:.ii  hi>tory 

Prounice.  the.  of  the  Gnostics,  i.  221.     Con-  of  Rationalism,  222  , '  »<  •/. 

founded  with  Beronice,  221  >n:i,  RaNeiina.   line  ppe.-inh-n.-  of  Cr.  in  mo-aicd 

Prussia,  abolition  of  torture  in.  i.  -'.-U  at.  i.  '_':!7  »»fi  .     Church  of  -!.    Vit  ;!._•  at, 

PrvnneV  •  lli>trioma-ti.v.'  ii.  354  no**-  built  by  <Jivi  k  arehiteeis.  214  ;i«'i 

Ps-'ellus.  Michael,  'On  the  operation  of  I>e-  Raynal.  f.i-  politi.-.d  economy,  ii.  :;-_'H 

iiion*,'  i.  iN  R.-.i-  Hi.  l.e~^i:i_^'s  n .']•- vii'i:i   of  a.!  dortrine 

Hii-udoni')narchiaD:emonum.'noticeo!'lhe,  «'nich  do, -s  no;  accord  ".;:!:.  i   '•'<  '5.   i\:.i!i'j 

i.  lo;  •  R,  li_-io,i    wiihin   the  Limits  of   P.e.ison,1 

Psychology,    development     of.     o;:e    >»f    the  :'.".-,  ii"t< 

catisi^  of  the  decline  of  the  media'val  no-  Itebellion.    r-infulncs*    :jf.   acc,-rdinur    tv>    ihe 

tio  i.>    of   hell.    i.  ;;:!'.»      Impul-e    gis.n    to  l-'at  l,er~.  ii.   <•',>'> 

jisyi-Iiolo.-y    by    AveiToe*.   -U-i.       And    by  '  Re' eilion.    liomily     >n    Wilful. '  ,\rt"l,  il.   ii. 

the    Mystics    of   the    fourteenth    Century,  175 

344  R.-.-it.i'ive.  in  nn;.*ic.  inv,  : 

Punishments,  the.  employed  by  the  Ilomans  R.  fonn-'jo;,.  ii-  iailu,  •..                       :-I.K  uj 

agaiur-t  the  uiajjiciaus.  i   i4  th'.- mind  from  ail  -ui".  r.-t  :;io;.?  terror^,  i. 


380 


INDEX. 


79.  And  in  stimulating  witchcraft,  79. 
True  causes  of  the  Reformation.  '267.  Con- 
flicting tendencies  produced  by  the,  on 
the  subject  of  infant  baptism,  300.  Variety 
of  interests  and  of  political  opinions  pro- 
duced by  the  Reformation,  ii.  140,  147. 
Shakes  the  old  superstition  respecting 
usury,  255,  250 

Regency,  the,  in  France,  ii.  70 

Uelics,  virtues  attributed  to,  in  the  middle 
iiges.  i.  153.  St.  Augustine's  belief  in  the 
miracles  wrought  by  the  relics  of  St. 
Stephen,  17S  note.  Origin  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  custom  of  placing  relics  of  mar- 
tyrs beneath  the  altars  of  churches,  211 
note.  The  consecration  of  churches  with- 
out relies  forbidden.  211  note.  Stages  of 
the  veneration  of  relics.  22S 

Keligion.  terror  everywhere  the  beginning 
of,  i.  41.  The  theories  of  the  rise  of,  303. 
The  theory  of  Euhcmerus.  303.  304.  The 
mythical  method.  3U4.  Locke's  adoption 
of  the  thcorj'  of  Kuhemerus,  304  note. 
Destruction  of  natural  religion  by  the 
conception  of  hell.  323.  The  sense  of 
virtue  and  the  sense  of  sin  the  foundation 
of  all  religious  systems.  350 

Religious  disabilities,  abolition  of  the  sys- 
tem of,  ii.  12".  12) 

Reiny.  a  jud;_re  of  Nancy,  his  execution  of 
witches,  i.  3D 

Renan.  M..on  the  lives  of  saints,  quoted,  i. 
1.50  note 

Resurrection,  the  pagan  masks  of  the  Sun 
and  Moon,  the  emblems  of  the.  i.  215 

ReuHiiin  saves  the  literature  of  the  Jews 
i'rom  destruction,  ii.  li'.l 

Rieii/i.  fives  an  impulse  to  archaeological 
collections,  i.  25*. 

'Ritiiel  Auscitain,' the,  on  possession,  i.  30 
note, 

Iliz/.i.   Francesco,  his  picture  of  a  Spanish 

Until  l.l<l  J>.  ii.   110  Hot,: 

Hochettc.  Raoul,  hi»  '  Cours  d'Archeolo'.'ie,' 
i.  23*  note 

Roman  law,  effects  of  the  renewed  study  of 
the.  ill  thi-  middle  a  ires.  ii.  104 

Romans,  belief  of  the  ancient,  in  evil  spirits 
and  Min.vi-y.  i.  42.  Laws  of  the  later  Ko- 
mans  against  mairic.  43 

Home,  inlliicncc  of  Indian  dresses  upon  the 
art  of.  in  the  time  of  AuL'tir-tu*.  i.  255  note. 
Effect  of  tin-  barbarian  invasion  of.  upon 
art.  25-5.  Mnall  collection  <>(  antiquities 
at  Rome,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fillet-nth 
century,  251).  The  grea  .  bull-fi:_rht  in  Ihe 
Coliseum  in  1333,  303  note.  Inquisition 
ri'its  in,  ii.  117.  Few  instances  of  the 
burning  of  hen-tics  in.  117  nnt<:  Hope- 
less decrepitude  and  imjioteiice  of  the 
present  government  of  Koine.  120.  in- 
dustrial pursuits,  how  regard,  d  in  Rome, 
221.  Atrocious  excesses  to  whir]]  tin-  em- 
pire arrived.  220.  Moncy-lendini.'  in  an- 
cient Koine.  214.  Cau-cr.f  tin-  decline  of 
the  theatre  in  Koine.  201.  'i'he  opera  p:ib- 
licly  .-auctioned  in  Hone-.  3nO 

Ro-eiu.-.  the  a«-lor.  ii.  2-5  nut,- 

KoMcruciaii.s.  Naiid-'.*  work  on.  i.  115  noff 

Vouen.  addiv.-s  of  tin-  parliament  of.  to  the 
kin:r  on  -orc<-ry.  _  ll-\  It- aii'-i.-m  manu- 
faetui-e  of  rliuic!)  onriiiient-.  237  nut, 

Roiiss'-au.  J.  .)..  his  ji^titicatiijn  01  intoler- 


ance, ii.  72.     His  power  over  French  so 

ciety,  213-216.    His  doctrine  of  the  '  socia 

contract.1  216 
Royal  Society,  its  indirect  influence  on  the 

decline  of  the  belief  in  witchcraft,  i.  126 

note.     Foundation  of  the,  292 
Russia,  abolition  of  torture  in,  i.  334 

SA.  Emmanuel,  his  defence  of  tyrannicide, 
ii.  150,  100 

Sabbath,  the  witches',  i.  94 

Saint  Hubert,  Madame,  the  first  actress  to 
take  the  ancient  sculptures  as  her  modal, 
ii.  215  rote 

Saints,  multitude  of  miracles  attributed  to, 
i.  15s  The  Uollandist  collection  at  Ant- 
werp, 155  note.  Worship  of,  227.  Stages 
of  the  veneration  of  the  relics  of  saints, 
228 

Salamanders,  intercourse  of  philosophers 
with,  i.  40  note 

Salmasius,  works  of,  in  defence  of  interest, 

^  ii.  250 

Salvation,  the  doctrine  of  exclusive.  See 
Sin,  Original 

Bancroft,  Archbishop,  effect  of  his  publica- 
tion of  'Bishop  Overall's  Convocation 
Hook,'  ii.  is}  note 

Saragossa,  miracle  of  the  Virgin  of  the  Pil 
lar  at.  i.  157 

Satan.     See  Devil 

Savages,  their  universal  belief  in  witchcraft, 

,  i.  41.     Causes  of  this.  41 

Savonarola  leads  a  reaction  in  favour  of 
spiritualism  in  art,  i.  200.  His  portrait 
painted  by  Raphael.  201 

Savoy,  execution  of  witches  in.  i.  31.  Es- 
pecially subject  to  the  influence  of  witch- 
es. 31  note 

'Scaligeriana'  on  the  slow  burning  of  here 
tics,  quoted,  i.  331  note 

Scepticism,  the  only  true  corrective  for  the 
belief  in  evil  of  inairic.  i.  54.  Increase  of 
in  the  middle  aires,  250 

Science:  Kncroaehments  of  physical  science 
on  the  old  conceptions  of  the  government 
of  the  universe,  i.  271.  Science  subordi- 
nated in  the  early  church  to  systems  of 
scriptural  interpretation,  271,  272.  obsta- 
cles east  in  the  way  of  science  by  theology 
2*1.  Sub.-equent  reireneration  of  physical 
science,  2-vl.  Inlluence  of  astronomy,  2*3. 
And  of  i.'i-olo_'y,  ^-O.  (iradual  substitu- 
tion of  the  conception  of  law  for  that  of 
supernatural  intervention.  2-0.  Irreligious 
character  attributed  to  seientilie,  explana- 
tions. 2— \  l)e  Maistre  on  the  science  of 
the  ancients,  quoted,  2_3  nod'.  Cosmas 
on  earthquakes,  2-1-1  not,-.  Jlill.renee  be- 
tween the  fiiticcplioii  of  the  Divinity  id 
a  scientific  and  an  unseientilic  ai'e,  '/*•>. 
<'aii.-es  (if  the  irrowth  of  astronomy,  2.*-% 
Influence  of  the  writings  of  Kacon,  2'.l& 
Rise.-  of  seieiililic  academies.  'J02.  'Ihe 
morphological  theory  of  the  universe.  2;I4. 
Its  effects  upon  hi.-tory.  205.  Inlliu-ncea 
D|  physical  seieiiee  over  .-pectilative  opin- 
ions, 20ii.  Illegitimate  elleets  of  science, 
f  seieiiee  uj.on  belief,  8lh' 
l  interpietatiuii,  3oil 
;v  of.  at  1'aris,  estiiblish 


INDEX. 


381 


Scotland,  extreme  atrocity  of  the  persecu- 
tions for  witchcraft  iu,  i.  142-150.  Perse- 
cution of  Presbyterians  in,  ii.  43.  And  of 

Catholics,  48,  49.  Efforts  of  the  Scotch 
to  suppress  liberty  of  conscience,  79  note. 
Establishment  of  the  Scottish  Kirk.  87. 
Political  liberalism  of  Scotland,  109.  Knox, 
17(1.  Buchanan.  171.  Answer  of  the  Scotch 
deputation  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  172.  Eng- 
lish Dissenters  assimilated  to  the  Scotch, 
173.  Existence  of  serfdom  in  Scotland  as 
late  as  1775,  239.  Sumptuary  laws  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  275  note 

Boott,  Keirinald,  his  'Discovery  of  Witch- 
craft,1 i.  122 

Bcotus  Erigena,  John,  his  disbelief  in  the 
doctrine  of  hell-fire,  i.  320.  Translates 
me  writings  of  Denys  the  Arcopagite, 
344.  Opposes  Ootteschalk's  doctrine  of 
double  predestination,  3-5  nr<fp 

Scriptural  interpretation  :  Swedenborir's 
•Doctrine  of  Correspondences,'  i.  272. 
Allegorical  school  of  Oritren,  272.  The 
•Clavis'  of  St.  Melito.  272  note.  Objec- 
tions of  the  ManichiiMiis  to  the  literal  in- 
terpretation of  Genesis.  272.  Answered 
by  St.  Augustine.  273.  The  literal  school, 
274.  The  '  Topographia  Christiana.'  276. 
Influence  of  science  upon  Biblical  inter- 
pretation. 3(tii.  The  earliest  example  of  ra- 
tionalistic biblical  interpretation,  300.  Dis- 
iuteLTating  and  destructive  criticism,  305. 
Lessing  ami  Kant's  principles,  305 

Sculpture,  the  most  ancient  kinds  of.  i.  242. 
Alleged  decadence  of  Creek  sculpture 
from  Phidias  to  Praxiteles.  253  imti: 
Parallel  of  Titian  and  Praxiteles,  254 
note.  History  of  Creek  statues  after  the 
rise  of  Christianity.  257.  25-.  .Nicholas  of 
Pisa  and  his  works.  25s.  First  develop- 
ment of  sculpture  in  Kome.  ii.  lo->  nut,' 

Sectarianism  in  Ireland,  ii.  1-0.  Its  incom- 
patibility with  patriotism.  1-ti 

Semitic!-,  the  Chancellor,  his  enthusiastic  pa- 
tronage of  tea  in  the  seventeenth  ceiiturv. 
ii.  322 

Sehleii  on  witchcraft,  i.  125 

Self-sacrifice.  L'reat  development  of.  by 
•'hrisiianity.  ii.  237.  Decline  of  the.  spirit 

Si-iicea   on   the  dut'es  of  masters   towards 

thi  ir  slaves,  ii.  22- 
Sensnalily.  influence  of.  upon  art.  i.  255 

Mannmis-ion  enforced  as  a  duty  upon  lay- 
ni'-u.  2: '.'.i  imtc.  Serfdom  in  Scotland  in 
1775.  239 

Serpent,  the.  worshipped  by  the  Ophites,  i. 
22o  Hi*/!1.  Adopted  as  the'emblem  of  heal- 
ing. 22H  note.  The  oil  K-yptmi  symbol 
of  a  serpent  with  a  hawk's  h.^id.  22<i  in'tr 

Serro.  on  political  economy,  ii.  2-::  //•  t, 

Servctns.  his  death,  ii.  -19.'  Calvin  applaud- 
ed for  the  crime.  52.  I).-noi:nc,  .1  l.y  (  ;>s- 
tellio.  51.  lint  justifi.-d  by  Be/a.  5<;' 

Hessa  on  the  Jews.  ii.  205  »',,!,• 

Bfoiva.  Francis.  Duke  of  M^'an.  the  (V-t  to 
establish  a  resident  ambassador,  ii.  2-2  //"', 

?i'aftcsbmy.  Lord,  ne-iect  :nio  which  his 
\M-itiiiL's'liave  fallen,  i.  19'i.  \\\-  denunci- 
ation of  (  liristianitv  as  iiu-omp.iMlde  uith 
freedom,  ii.  13- 

Sii::.,sprare,  his  notices  -,f  witchcraft,  i.  124 


|  Sherlock,  Dr..  his  disregard  of  the  dcctrins 
of  passive  obedience,  ii.  183  note 

Silvantis,  St.,  bishop  of  Xazareth,  calumni- 
ated by  the  devil,  i.  100  note 

Simancas,  Bishop,  on  torture,  i.  834  •not/-. 
On  faith  with  heretics.  394  note.  On  the 
influence  of  the  Levitical  laws  on  Chris- 
tian persecution,  ii.  22  note 

Simon  Mapns,  his  introduction  of  the  wo- 
man Helena  as  the  incarnation  of  the  Di- 
vine Thought,  i.  220 

Sin,  the  sense  of,  appealed  most  strondy  to, 
by  Christianity,  i.  SCO.  The  conception 
of  hereditary"  puilt,  357.  Original,  the 
doctrine  of.  rejected  by  Socinus.  872.  And 
by  Ztiinslius,  373.  Views  of  Chilliujr- 
worth  and  Jeremy  Taylor,  374  note.  The 
scope  of  thfe  doctrine  of  the  condemna- 
tion of  all  meu  extends  to  adults.  370. 
Views  of  the  l-'athurs  on  the  subject,  377. 
Effects  of  this  doctrine.  8>«0  et  ntq.  The 
sense  of  sin  the  chief  moral  a^eut  of  the 
middle  aircs,  ii  197 

Sinclair,  professor  of  moral  philosophy  at 
C-'asjrow,  his  belief  iu  witchcraft,  i.  J4S 
not? 

Sixltts  V.  a]>!)!auds  the  assassin  Clement  for 
his  murder  of  Henri  III  .  ii.  It'.l 

Slavery,  the  unchristian  character  of.  strong- 
ly asserted  by  Wycliff.  ii.  1C>S.  Slavery 
the  basis  of  tlie  industrial  system  of  anti- 
quity, 223.  Effects  of  this  institution  on 
national  character.  223.  Comparison  be- 
tween ancient  and  modern  slavery.  225. 
Its  abolition  undertaken  by  Christianity, 
227.  First  movement  in  favour  of  the 
slaves  due  to  Seneca  and  his  followers, 
22-.  The  invas'on  of  the  Barbarians  in 
Italy  favourable  to  the  slaves.  22s.  But 
Christianity  the  most  c'i'eunt  opponent 
of  the  evil.  22-.  lleview  of  the  measures 
for  aholi-hint:  slavery.  2'J.'.  Jewish  slavi- 
dealei-s,  230.  The  K:,ip.  ror  l.ratinn's  bar- 
barons  slave  law.  230  in.ti'.  Slavery  i:rad- 
nally  fades  into  serfdom.  -J3o.  An-'lo- 
Saxiin  measures  for  alli-vi;itin^  the  cmidi- 
ti.in  of  slaves.  2:',1.  >ale  of  English  slaves 
to  the  Irish.  2:;-  iiflff.  Slaves  in  Italy  in 
the  thirtci  nth  century.  2:!'.'  ;/'•'<•.  Chris- 
tian. Jewish,  and  .Mohamnieil.-'.n  slaves, 
23d  note.  Ktl'ect  of  slavery  upon  tiie 
Spanish  charaeter.  ::17.  N'eL'ro  slave  -  in- 
troduce d  into  the  West  Indii-s  and  Amer- 
ica. 317.  31-  Jo!m  llawkii:s  a::d  the 
slave  trade.  :',!-  Th"  slave  tt-:de  !:r.-t  i:n- 
equivoc'illy  condi  lulled  by  the  >]>alii!-il 
liotninieati  Soio,  ii.  31-  tint,- 

Sleeji.   i"'iinecii"ii   ef    riMit    consciousness 

Smith.  A.lam.  mi   usi:ry.  ii.  2"'.'.     <m  mnnu- 

SnmlK  tt.  Tobias,  his  remarks  ,.n  York  M!c 
ster  and  I>i;rham  I'ntlieilral.  i.  2i>l  ,n-', 

•Social  i tract.'  tin-  d.iciriii''  or  the.  as>  ','.!> 

,,ra;,.d  by  •!)••  .1,  -nit-.  \\.  w- 


382 


IXDEX. 


'Solomon,  Song  of,'  regarded  by  Castellio  as 
simply  a  love  song,  ii.  53.  JSiebuhr's  re- 
mark'on  it,  53  note. 

Borners,  Lord,  his  defence  of  religious  liber- 
ty, ii.  S7 

Somnambulism  :  the  belief  that  somnambu- 
lists had  been  baptised  bv  drunken  priests, 
i.  364  note, 

Soothsayers,  laws  of  the  later  ilomans 
against  i  43 

Sophia,  the,  of  the  Gnostics,  i.  221  note 

B  rbonne,  its  declarations  of  the  independ- 
ence of  the  civil  power,  ii.  166.  Its  deci- 
sion upon  usury,  ii.  245  note 

Sorcery.     See  Witchcraft 

Sortes  and  sortilegi,  origin  of  the  words,  i. 
2-iT  nole 

Soto,  the  Spanish  Dominican,  the  first  who 
unequivocally  condemned  the  slave  trade, 
ii.  31S  note 

Soubervies.  the,  put  a  wcman  to  death  for 
witchcraft,  i.  80  note 

Soul,  the  development  of  a  purely  spiritual 
conception  of  the,  one  of  the  causes  of  the 
decline  of  the  mediaeval  notions  of  hell.  i. 
339.  Idea  of  the  Platonists  of  a  soul.  339. 
Opinions  of  the  Fathers  as  to  the  form  of 
the  soul.  341  note 

Spain,  numbers  of  sorcerers  put  to  death  in, 
i.  30.  Abolition  of  torture  in.  3:33.  In- 
troduction and  progress  of  the  Inquisition 
in.  ii.  113  et  seq.  The  Spanish  Moors, 
260.  The  plays  of  Cal*rron  and  the  drama 
in  Spain,  3o7.  The  sceptre  of  industry  al- 
most in  the  grasp  of  Spain.  311.  Magnifi- 
cent position  of  that  country  under  Charles 
V.,  311.  Speedy  eclipse  of  her  prosperity. 
31-.'.  Causes  of  the  downfall  of  Spain,  314 

Sphinx,  the.  believed  by  some  of  the  early 
Christian*  to  be  connected  with  their 
faith,  i.  214  note 

Spina  on  the  opposition  offered  to  the  execu- 
tions in  Italy  for  witchcraft,  i.  105 

Spitting,  a  religious  exercise,  i.  4>  note 

Spratt,  Thomas,  bishop  of  Koeh.-ster.  en- 
deavours to  tiring  theology  into  harmony 
with  the  Baconian  philosophy,!.  131.  Ou 
the  miraculous,  liil  not.: 

Sprcnger.  the  inquisitor,  ascribes  'VTilliam 
Tell'a  shot  to  the  assistance  of  the  devil,  i. 
31.  Commissioned  by  Tope  Innocent 
VI11..  :!2.  Spr< -Hirer's  book  on  sorcery.  32. 
His  etymological  blunders.  S7 

Stair,  the.  a  .-ymbul  .it'  Chrir-t.  i.  224.  Pagan 
and  middle-age  leirends  respecting  tne. 
•_'24  ii'ift 

Btahl.  his  psychology,  i.  34'i  note 

Star  Chamber,  its  suppression  of  heretical 
books,  ii.  119 

Starovertsis.  in  TJu=sia.  their  views  of  the 
sinfuiness  of  usur.v.  ii.  '..'Oo 

Statues,  wooden,  of  Spain,  i.  23>? 

Strrtuss.  his  remarks  on  miracles  ([noted,  i. 
1-3  not.' 

g.iftre/.  the  J>  suit,  bis  work  'T)e  Fide' 
l-urnt  in  P::r;-.  i.  147.  <  >rigin  of  the  work. 
14-  note.  Condemnation  o;'his  book  by  a 
synod  ot'T'inriejns.  I'-1''.  1-7 

Sllccubi,  or  female  de-'iN.  according  to  the 
earlv  ChriMians.  i.  4-  nufi-.  J.iliih.  the 
first' wife  of  Adam,  the  queen  of.  4!i  ><nt,_>. 
Succubi.  called  I.eaimnir.  Sith.  common 
"»n  ng  Highlanders.  14>  i.ote 


|  Suffering,   tendency   of  the  constant  con- 
templation of,  to    blunt   the   affections, 
i      i.  824 
Sullv,  his  opposition  to  manufactures,  it 

|      826 

Sumptuary  laws  of  the  thirteenth  and  four 
teenth  centuries,  ii.  274 

Supernatural,  influences  of  the,  upon  say- 
i      ages,  i.  41,  42 
i  Superstition,  pagan,  existence  of,  from  th« 

sixth  to  the  twelfth  century,  i.  61 
!  Supremacy,  the  oath  of,  compulsory  ucdsi 
pain  of  death,  ii.  47  note 

Sweden,  sorcerers  put  to  death  in,  in  1070,  i. 
81.  Combination  of  devotion  and  immo- 
rality in,  391.  ftotestant  persecutions  in, 
ii.  49.  Intolerance  of,  at  the  present  time, 
S9 

Swedenborg,  Emanuel.  his  'Doctrine  of 
Correspondences,'  i.  272 

Swindcn  contends  that  the  locality  of  hell 
is  in  the  sun,  i.  347  note 

Swiss,  their  morality  and  irreligion,  i.  892 
note 

Switzerland,  great  numbers  of  witches  put 
to  death  in^i.  31.  Protestant  persecutions 
in.  ii.  49 

sylphs,  intercourse  of  philosophers  \vith.  i. 
'49  note.  Belief  of  the  Cabalists  in  the  ex- 
istence of,  06 

Sylvans.  the.  of  the  pagans,  regarded  by  the 
"early  Christians  as  devils,  i.  4!) 

Sylvester  II.,  regarded  as  a  macician.  i.  282. 
Account  of  him  and  of  his  works,  2S'2  note 

Symbolism,  great  love  of,  evinced  by  the 
"art  of  the  Catacombs,  i.  213.  The  peacock 
the  symbol  of  immortality,  213.  And 
Orpheus,  of  the  attractive  power  of  Chris- 
tianity. 214.  Mercury,  Hercules,  and  the 
Sphinx.  214  note.  The  masks  of  the  sun 
and  moon.  214.  The  genii  of  the  seasons 
and  guardian  ansels,  214.  The  fish  an 
emblem  of  Christ,  215.  The  stag  employed 
for  the  same  purpose.  215.  Kepetition  of 
svmbolical  subjects  from  the  Hible.  21i>. 
St.  Melito's  catalogue  of  birds,  beasts, 
plants.  Arc.,  which  are  to  be  regarded  aa 
Christian  symbols.  273  note 

Svria.  massacres  in.  \\.  45 


Talma,  his  improvements  in  staire  represen 


Tanner,  hi-  v 

•Tarturt'e.'  Moli.'-re's.  orL-in  of  some  of  the 
incidents  ami  speeches  of.  ii.  :';IM  noli- 

Tau.  why  reverenced  by  the  early  Chris- 
tians, i.  2o5  n nff 

Taylor.  Isaac,  on  patristic  writings,  i.  17^ 
note 

Taylor.  Jeremy,  rejects  the  doctrine  ol 
original  sin.  i.  .374  nntf.  His  remarks  on 
the  separation  of  Chri.-t  from  the  intoler- 
ance of  Judaism,  ii.  21  note.  His  advo- 
cacy of  religious  liberty.  S2.  His  'Liberty 
of  Prophesying,'  -2.  Arguments  on  which 
he  based  his  claims  lor  toleration,  S3. 
Coleridge's  remarks  on  him,  >4  note.  On 
passive  obedience.  17(i 

Tea.  importation  of.  into  Europe,  ii.  321 

Telemachus.  the  ruouk,  ii.  234 


INDEX. 


383 


Tall,  William,  his  successful  shot  ascribed 
by  Sprenger  to  the  devil,  i.  81  note 

Tempests,  power  of  producing,  attributed  to 
the  devil  and  to  witches,  i.  9t 

Templars,  the,  accused  of  sorcery,  i.  31  note 

Terror  everywhere  the  beginning  of  relig- 
ion, i.  40.  "Causes  which  produced  in  tho 
twelfth  century  a  spirit  of  rebellion  which 
was  encountered  by  terrorism,  i.  73. 
History  of  religious  terrorism.  315  et  seq. 
See  He'll 

T?rtuliian  on  the  demons  supposed  to  exist 
In  his  time,  i.  47.  His  treatise  'l)e  Co- 
rona.1 50.  Against  pictures,  23.">  note.  Kf- 
fect  of  the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment 
on  his  character,  827.  329  note.  His  denial 
of  the  existence  in  man  of  any  incorpo- 
real element,  342.  His  denunciation  of 
the  pagan  practice  of  destroying  thetVetus 
in  the  womb,  3(54  note.  His  advocacy  of 
absolute  and  complete  toleration,  ii.'  21. 
His  opinion  that  ecclesiastics  should  never 
cause  the  death  of  men.  33.  His  denun- 
ciation ol'  the  theatre.  2-i» 

TlialfS  regards  water  as  the  origin  of  all 
things,  i.  •>()<',  not f. 

1'heatre.  revolutions  in  the.  1n  France,  ii. 
-'15.  Its  influence  upon  national  -tastes. 
2S(5.  Contrast  between  tho  theatres  of 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  2S7.  Stiirma  at- 
tached to  actors  in  ancient  times.  2-S. 
Denunciation  of  the  theatre  by  the  fathers, 
2SO.  The  theatre  the  last  refuge  of  pag:-n- 
isiil.  2SU.  Hise  of  the  religious  plays. 'jO-i. 
Faint  siiriis  of  secular  plays:  impromptus, 
pantomimes,  >\:c.,  2','7.  Creation  of  plays 
of  a  higher  order.  2!»3.  Italian  dramas. 
29l>.  French.  2'.'!>.  Intlueuce  of  music. 
'2!>!l.  And  of  Gothic  architecture.  :;m). 
Shape  of  the  sta:_'e  in  ancieiu  and  niodeni 
times.  3ii:!.  Causes  of  a  ivvnHon  in  the 
sentiments  with  which  the  theatre  was 
regarded.  304.  Fierce  opposition  of  the 
Church  in  France,  3'>r>.  The  tluatre  in 
Spain  and  Italy.  3u7.  3uS  Important  i-tl'ects 

Of  the  contest  lietweell  the  church  ail. I  tile 
theatre.  3o;i.  ::lu 

Theodosius.  the  Fmperor.  his  prohibition  .if 
every  portion  of  the  pinraii  worship,  i.  .">;i. 
Commands  monks  to  betake  themselves 
to  de-,Tt  places.  '.'-I'.!  nitti:  Ar.n.-xes  the 
penalty  of  death  to  the  'irolession  of  a 
heresy,  ii.  -.'3  mite.  Prohibits  all  forms  of 
heretical  and  pairan  worship.  '.'7.  And  the 
works  of  Xestorius  and  Kutychcs.  li- 

VheoloLfv.  intluence  of  ]>ante  over  tlie  con- 
ceptions of.  i.  2K  Distinction  between 
llie  i|o_ry  and  science  untelt  in  the  tirn-. 
of  Cosuias.  270.  Dawn  of  the  di-tinetion 

between  them.  27.'  //•"'.'.  Intllli-nee  of 
theology  on.  and  ubsiacle-  ca-t  in  t!ie  \\  iv 

Of.  Science.  2-1.       I;,  lations  of   theology   to 

morals,  310.  Their  coinpl.-te  separation 
'.n  antiquity.  311.  The  decline  ot  tlu-o- 
lo.rieal  belief  a  nec.---ire  aiitei-edein  of 
tho  success  of  the  philosopher*  of  the  Sev- 
enteenth century,  4'U.  Theo!o_'ieal  in- 
terests L-nidnallv  cease  to  '•.•  a  nnin  oli- 
jeet  .H'poiitieal  combinations,  ii.  I"-'  'I  lie 
decliniiiu"  iniluenee  nf  !h'-olo_'\-  >h..\vn  !.y 
the  i-eli-ioiis  wars  of  the  K,  formation. 
lO'.i.  Aetion  of  politiea',  life  -MI  ;h  •'.  ••- 
logical  ij_ibi'L.~  of  thought.  13o.  l'hc  sir,.., in 


of  self-sj.  rlflce  paesinpr  from  theology  to 
politics,  217.  Points  of  contact  of  indus- 
trial and  theological  enterprises.  241.  In- 
fluence of  industry  upon  theological  judg- 
ments, 273.  Theological  agencies  not  pa- 
cific, 330 

Therapeutes,  the,  mentioned  by  Philo,  iL 
340  note 

Theta,  why  regarded  as  the  unlucky  letUr, 
i.  203  note 

Timanthes,  his  sacrifice  of  Iphigenia,  i.  2S3 
notf, 

Tindal,  his  works  in  defence  of  liberty,  ii. 
1S4  note 

Titian,  compared  with  Praxiteles,  i.  2.">6 

Toland,  his  'Anirlica  Lihera,'  ii.  Iso  note. 
His  other  works,  ISo  note 

Toledo,  supposed  to  bo  ;he  liead-quartcrs  of 
sorcerers  in  Spain,  i.  30  note 

Toleration,  assertion  of,  by  /uine;1itis  and 
Socinns,  ii.  Til.  Toleration  favoured  by 
the  mingling  of  religions  produced  by  the 
Informal  ion.  (12.  And  by  the  marriage 
of  the  ch-rirv.  (52.  And  by  the  greater  flex- 
ibility of  "Protestantism,  t'rJ.  Sketch  of 
the  history  of  toleration  in  France,  r.3-74. 
The  absolute  unlawfulness  of  toleration 
maintained  by  Uishop  l'il<on.  47  !>•>?••. 
The  duty  of  absolute  toleration  preached 
for  the  "first  time  in  Christendom.  .">-!. 
Toleration  extolled  and  upheld  by  Kr.'.s- 
mus.  Sir  T.  .More.  Hopital.  and  Lord  B.'.l- 
timoiv.  ")!(.  Sketch  of  the  history  of  tol- 
eration in  Kngland.  75-^ti.  Intolerance  in 
Sweden  at  the  present  day.  >'.'.  The  ba<!s 
of  modern  toh-raive  advocated  in  favour 
of  the  Inquisition.  11.").  Literary  ceii-or- 
sliip  exercised  aLr::i;i>t  hen  tieal  writings, 
11-.  Removal  of  reliirious  disabilities  in 
Kn_'!aii'l  and  Ireland,  l-l-li'o.  inllueiiee 
of  comiih  rce  in  leading  nn  11  to  tolerance. 
2i'i2.  l-'.tlVet  of  reliirious  intolerance  on  the 
downfall  of  >pain.  :U'.i 
'  Toleration  Act.  passing  of  the.  ii.  -fl,  ^7 
I  Toletus.  Franeir-eus,  iiis,  justitieatiou  of  l\  • 

rannieiile.  ii.  I.V.i 
|  Toniiein-.  synod  of.  its  condemnation  of  tl.e 

work  of  xiaivz.  ii.  1-ii.  1-7  nntf 
!  Toii|iiemada.    his     attempts     to     extirpate 
wite'icral't    in    Spain,  i.  :;u      Pro.-nres   an 
edict   expelling   the   .lews  from  Spain,  ii. 

i  Tori  u:v.  i'le-aliiy  of.  in  F.n-land.  i.  122.  A 
horril.le  ca-o  of.  ].rc-ided  over  by  .larn,  s 
1  .  123  not,.  Tortures  to  compel  eon!',-- 
sion  of  -\  itcIiL-i  in  Scotland.  1  17.  I  n 
Greece  and  Ron)",  :;:;j.  Kxh-nt  to  ^  l;i.-!i 
i'  was  e.ii-ri.  d  by  mi-dia'val  ('!»•:<:>  n.;.  ;u. 
:!3-_'  n"!:.  Mar.-iiiu>'  invention  of  a  tor- 

::;;-_'  imt,  .  I  l-'irality  ol  torture  in  l'i,_'- 
1  and,  :;:'.:!.  \'.\--  nt  'to  wl.t.-h  ii  w.:s  em- 
ployed by  Catholi.  ^  under  Mary.3:',:l  >  ..-,.. 
And  by  Prot.-tanK  -'-3  H"f,.  '  A!-l:-'.,d 
in  Fi-a'tic...  !-paiii.  Italy,  llu-si.i.  Prus-i  i 
and  Tn-eaiiy.  :i:U.  S'.'  Au.'U-'iin  's  -MO- 


eli 


384 


INDEX. 


st,  in  one  time,  i.   29.      Four    hundred  | 
•witches  burnt  in  the  square  of,  ii.  46 

Towns,  modern  industrial  history  begun  by 
the  emancipation  of  the,  ii.  240.  Privi- 
leges of  burghers  in  the  middle  ages,  230 
note.  Importance  of  corporations  and 
guilds  in  the  middle  ages,  240.  The  con- 
liict  between  the  towns  and  the  country, 
ii.  324.  Changes  effected  in  their  relative, 
importance.  325 

Tractarian  movement,  i.  173.  ISO.  1S1 

Trent.  Council  of.  on  infant  baptism,  i.  366 

Treves,  vast  number  of  witches  burnt  at,  i. 
29 

1  i-inity.  first  Person  of  the,  Roman  Catholic 
representations  of,  all  comparatively  mod- 
ern, i.  216 

•Truce  of  God,'  the,  proclaimed,  ii.  JOS. 
Confirmed  by  Pope  Alexander  III.  as  a 
general  law  of  the  Church,  108  notf 

Truth,  injurious  effect  of  the  doctrine  of 
exclusive  salvation  on  the  sencc  <>:',  i.  393. 
'Pious  frauds,1  393  and  note  394.  Total 
destruction  of  the  sense  of  truth  in  the 
middle  ages  resulting  from  the  influence 
of  theology,  394.  Credulity  proclaimed  a 
virtue  by  the  classes  most  addicted  to 
falsehood".  39.").  Revival  of  the  sense  of 
truth  due  to  the  secular  philosophers  of 
the  seventeenth  century, 399 

TiirL'ot  on  money-lending,  quoted,  ii.  248 
note.  His  remarks  on  the  scholastic 
writings  on  usury,  ii.  253  nnlf.  260 

Tuscany,  abolition  of  torture  in.  i.  :io4 

Tyrannicide  in  immature  civilisations,  ii. 
"150,  156.  Case  of  Henry  111.,  J50,  151. 
Chief  arguments  on  either  side,  151-153. 
Its  impoitance  in  the  history  of  liberal 
opinions.  15S.  Justified  by  jean  Petit, 
15S.  But  denounced  by  Gerson  and  the 
Council  of  Constance.  159.  Grevin's  play 
of  -The  Death  of  Gvsar,'  159.  Advocated 
by  Toletus.  Sa.  Molina.  Ayaln.  and  Kel- 
le'rus.  159,  160.  The  murder  of  Henry  III. 
justified  by  the  L^asrue  and  by  Pope  Six- 
tus  V..  161.  Political  assassination  ap- 
proved by  Protestauts.  161 


'LTRAMONTAXE  party  in  the  Church 


which   regulate  the  price  ot  money.  242 
and   11  file.     Ignorance   of  the  ancients  oi'    ' 


tile    principles    rcirulatiim'    nit'Tc- 
Moncy-icndiiiL.'    anion::    the    Civek 


wrly  and  medieval  Cliun-h.  245.  Usury 
l,i  England  in  the  middle  ;rjv>.  I'!1',  >/'*/••. 
T-.velve  per  cent.  l.'iralised  by  C-i!st::n- 


1  ..  el  \  e  per  ceil  i .  I'  •;,  :<  I ,  "<  •'  i  i '  \  v  j r  si  :;  11- 
t'ne.  216 ~  l>rif<>.  IVrreeS  i  if  tile  Councils 
of  Nic.-  :.nd  Illiiieris  ..n  the  subvrt.  247 


cision  of  the  Sorbonne.  248  note.  The 
'Monti  di  Pieta'  of  Italy,  249.  Argu- 
ments upon  which  the  doctrines  of  tho 
theologians  against  usury  were  based,  250. 
Passages  of  Scripture  cited  against  usury, 
252.  Effect  of  the  prohibition  of  usury 
in  Catholic  countries  on  the  habits  of  the 
people.  253  note.  Usurers  almost  always 
Jews,  254.  French  law  of  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, 253  note.  Law  of  Justinian,  253 
tiote.  Christian  money-lenders  at  the 
close  of  the  eleventh  century,  254.  Usury 
made  popular  by  the  rise  of  the  Italian 
Republics.  254.  Decree  of  the  Third 
Council  of  Lateran.  '254.  And  of  the 
Council  of  Vienne,  255  note  The  old  su- 
peistition  respecting  usury  shaken  by  the 
Reformation,  255.  256.  Views  of  Calvin, 
256.  Money-lending  formally  permitted 
by  Henry  VIII.  in  England.  "256.  Books 
of  Saumaise  in  defence  of  interest,  256. 
Change  in  the  meaning  of  the  word  usury 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  257.  Casuistry 
of  the  Jesuits,  257.  Gradual  disappear- 
ance of  the  laws  upon  usury  based  upon 
theological  grounds.  259.  Discussion  of 
the  economical  question  by  Locke.  Smith, 
Hume.  Turgot.  and  Bentliam,  259  et  *eq. 
Importance  of  this  controversy  in  pro- 
ducing an  antagonism  between  industry 
and  theology.  260.  261.  Controversy  in 
the  middle  ages  as  to  the  propriety  of  per- 
mitting Jews  to  practise  usury.  266  note 
Utilitarianism,  the  philosophical  expression 
of  industrialism,  ii.  352.  Evils  resulting 
from  this  philosophy,  353 


YTALENS.  the  Emperor,  his  persecution  ot 
»  pasran  magic  in  the  East.  i.  57 

Valentinian,  the  Emperor,  renews  the  per- 
secution aaainst  pagan  magic,  i.  57 

Valery,  witches  burnt  at.  i.  31 

Vanini,  his  view  of  the  influence  of  the  stars 
over  the  fortunes  of  Christianity,  i.  284 
note 

Vavassor.  'De  Forma  Christ!.'  i.  245  note 

Venice,  licentiousness  of.  i.  255.  Influence 
of  its  sensuality  upon  art.  255.  The  dyers 
of.  in  the  middle  ages.  255  note.  Period 
of  the  introduction  of  the  inquisition  into 
Venice,  ii.  113.  Commerce  of  the  Vene- 
tians. i's2 

Ventriloquism,  attributed  to  supernatura1 
aiceiiey.  i  11!' 

Venus,  the  Creek  statu?<  of.  a  type  of  sen- 
sual beauty,  i.  LJ.|:!.  The  character  of  sen- 
snalitv  said  to  have  been  L'ivi-n  bv  Praxi- 
teles to.  257  ii"ti- 

Verona,  execution  of'herctic*  in.  ii.  117  nntt. 

Vesta,  supposed  by  the  (Yihali.-ts  to  have 
been  the  wife  of  Noah.  i.  67  nuf,- 

Vice,  influence  of.  on  historic  development, 
ii.  70 

Vienne.  Council  of.  its  endeavours  to  arrest 
the  progress  of  usury,  ii.  2M 

Vincent  Ferrier,  St..  preaelic*  against  tho 
Jews.  ii.  2i'>7.  Account  of  him.  26S  not,- 

Vincentius,  his  opinions  on  intant  baptism, 
i.  -Ml 

'  Vindicuo  contra  Tyramios.'  the.  ii.  1  ie.  1?9 

Virgilius,  ?t..  asserts  his  belief  in  the  e\- 
istence  of  the  Antipodes,  i.  2~o 


ENDEX. 


385 


fli<rfu.  causes  of  the  jarrowing  worship  of 
the,  i.  220.  Strengthened  by  Gnosticism. 

222,  223.     Conceptions  culled  from  the  dif- 
ferent beliefs  of  paganism  more  or  less 
connected  with  the  ideal  of  this  worship, 

223.  Mariolatry  strengthened  by  dogmat- 
ic definitions.  224.    Instances  in  the  mid- 
dle ages  of  a  desire  to  give  a  palpable 
form  to  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation, 
224    note.    The  worship    of   the    Virgin 
strengthened  by  painting,  by  celibacy,  and 
by  the  crusades,  225.     No  authentic  por- 
trait af  her  in  the  time  of  St.  Augustine. 
224  note.    Generally  represented  in  the 
early  church  with  the  Infant  Child,  224 
note.    The  first  notice  of  the  resemblance 
of  Christ  to  her,  224  note.    Appearance  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  immaculate  concep- 
tion,   22.").     Salutary    influence   exercised 
by  the  medieval  conception  of  the  Virgin, 
22(5.    The  Virgin  regarded  as  an  omnipres- 
ent deity,  220!     The  Psalms  adapted   by 
St.  Bonaventura  to  her  worship.  227 

Virtue,  pursuit  of.  for  its  own  sake,  i.  307. 
The  substitution  of  the  sense  of  right  for 
the  fear  of  punishment  as  the  main  motive 
of  virtue,  315  et  xe//.  The  sense  of.  ap- 
pealed most  strongly  to  by  the  philoso- 
phers of  ancient  Greece  and  Home,  350 

Vives,  Luis,  his  protest  against  torture  in 
Spain,  i.  334  note.  His  opinions  de- 
nounced by  Bishop  Simancas,  334  note.  Of 
spontaneous  generation,  344  note 

Voltaire,  on  the  decadence  in  the  belief  in 
witchcraft,  117  and  note.  Kffeet  of  his 
ridicule,  US  His  denunciation  of  torture, 
383  note.  Impulse  given  by  him  to  the 
amelioration  of  the  penal  code.  350.  His 
influence  on  the  spirit  of  toleration  in 
France,  ii.  7!.  72.  His  approval  of  the 
partition  of  Poland.  21:3  note.  His  ode  to 
the  memory  of  Le  Couvreur  the  actress, 
805.  His  removal  of  the  stigma  that  rest- 
ed upon  actors,  301).  His  efforts  in  favour 
jf  peace,  337 


YyAGSTAFFE.  an  Oxford  scholar,  his  op- 

V\       josition  to  the  buliet'  in  the  existence 
of  witchcraft,  i.  137.     Notice  of  him  from 
Wood.  137  note 
Waking'  witches,  i.  145 

War.  changes  in  the  art  of,  favourable  to 
liberty,  ii.  205.  Change  in  the  relative 
position  of  the  cavalry  and  infantry.  205. 
The  English  archers."  205.  Rise  of  the 
Flemish  infantry,  2(iO.  Tho  Italian  oon- 
dottieri.  2oi).  The  invention  of  gunpow- 
der and  of  the  bayonet.  200,  -jo7.  'I  hive 
Jicads  under  which'  the  causes  of  the  wars 
(luring  the  last  U'O'i  vears  m.iv  be  cla.-.-ed. 
21!).  ("lose  of  religious  v  ars.  lio 

Wnrburton.  liishop.  helps  to  usher  in  a  IH-W 
phase  iu  the  history  of  miracles,  i.  17'\ 
His  notion  of  the  origin  of  Gotl 'ic  archi- 
tecture. 204  note,  ill-  argument  in  favour 
of  the  divine  crijiu  of  .ludair-m.  ;'>;> 
note 

Water,  baptismal,  fetish  notioM-;  in  the  early 
Church  respecting  the.  i.  205.  Notion  i  I 
the  sanctity  of,  i.  200  noli,  \\~l\y  witches 
were  plunged  into.  2oO  nit,.  1,'eganle  ! 
bv  Thales  as  the  origin  of  ail  iliiiu^.  •:•<.', 
">  t 


note.     Ovid  on  the  expiatory  power  of, 

20G  note, 

Wealth,  position  assigned  by  industrialism 
to,  ii.  346 

Webster  on  witchcraft,  i.  136.  His  system- 
atic application  of  a  rationalistic  interpre- 
tation to  the  magical  miracles  in  the  Bible. 
136 

Wenham,  Jane,  her  trial  for  witchcraft,  I 
139 

Wesley,  John,  on  witches,  i.  34.  His  sum- 
mary of  the  history  of  the  movement 
against  the  belief  in  witchcraft,  140 

Westphalia,  peace  of,  regarded  as  the  closo 
of  religious  wars,  ii.  110 

Winston,  contends  that  hell  is  placed  in  th« 
tail  of  a  comet,  i.  144  note 

White,  Thomas,  answered  GlanviFs  '  Vanitj 
of  Dogmatism,1  Ac.,  i.  130  note 

Wk-r,  John,  'De  Priestigiis  Diemonum,'  i. 
105.  Bodin's  remarks  on  it,  10!i 

William  of  Ockhain,  favourable  to  liberty 
144  note 

Windham,  Mr.,  his  defence  of  bull-baiting, 
i.  307  note 

Witchcraft:  causes  of  the  belief  in  witch- 
craft or  magic,  i.  37.  Considerations  serving 
to  explain  the  history  of  witchcraft  and 
its  significance  as  an  index  of  the  course 
of  civilisation.  40.  Leading  phase?  through 
which  the  belief  has  passed.  40.  Belief 
of  savnges  in  witchcraft,  40.  Marriage 
with  devils  an  ordinary  accusation  in 
charges  for  witchcraft.  4S.  Kxistence  of 
the  intellectual  basis  of  witchcraft  in  the 
dark  ages.  03,  05.  Numbers  of  women 
put  to  death  in  the  sixth  century.  05. 
Progress  of  the  panic  created  by  the  be- 
lief in  witchcraft.  7o.  The  last  iaw  in 
Europe  on  the  subject.  70  tinte.  Causes 
which  produced  a  bias  towards  witchcraft, 
70.  The  climax  of  the  trials  for  witchcraft  in 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  7->. 
Influence  of  the  Reformation  in  stimulat- 
ing witchcraft,  71).  Luther  and  Erasmus 
firm  believers  in  the  crime.  --4  note.  The 
coexistence  of  witchcraft  with  .a  conflict 
of  opinions  among  the  educated.  ^4.  For- 
mation of  the  theology  of  witchcraft,  s>. 
Numbers  and  ability  of  the  early  works 
oa  the  subject.  ^S  Leading  causes  upon 
which  the  belief  in  witchcraft  depc-iuUd. 
90  et  *(••</.  Accounts  of  the  influence  of 
witchcraft  upon  the  pa.-sions.  ['•>.  Virus 
of  Wier  on  witches  and  witchcraft.  Io5 
And  of  i'lodin.  li'7.  Montai:ie's  opinions 
on  witchcraft.  111.  114.  Rapid  ami  si- 
lent decadence  in  the  belief  in  wit'.-h- 
i ".'.i ft.  !!>>.  opinions  and  influence  of  I..i 
llniycre.  P.avle.  Descartes.  Malebrane!'  •. 
and  Voltaire,  1!0.  Colbert's  supfre:-:-;  .1 
of  executi.iiis  for  \\itche;\i:'t.  Jl^.  The 
l)eiji  ;'  in  "  iichi'i-aft  mueli  !<•»-  prominent 


.1   th 


12'1.  '1  lie  :ir~t  Kng':i-h  Liw  on  i>..>  s::!-ji  >  t, 
II1.'.  lli-pi.-aU"!  iii  the  ri'i-.-n  of  M.iry.'but 
reiuwid  on  ti."  aci'es-iun  of  ll't/.a!  <-t!;, 
121.  Nujiilier  of  executions  i:;  V>.g:.,;'.a 

f'l-  WitL'llCril'.'t.  '.I''!  ll"'r,  M,  •'.]..»!-  t  Ill- 
pi  oVe'.l  liy  the  «  iteh-'.indcrs  to  C'-mpcl  con- 
fe-;'.on,  'l-'2.  l;--jlll:l!d  Scott's  pro:e?; 

.^.•ain-t  i'r.e  persecution.  !•„•_•.    King  .lames 


386 


ESTDEX. 


Sir  Thomas  Browne's  belief  in  its  exist- 
ence, 124.  Shakspeare  and  Bacon  on 
witchcraft.  124.  Selden's  peculiar  views, 
125.  Matthew  Hopkins  and  the  execu- 
tions in  Suffolk,  125, 126.  History  of  the 
decline  of  the  belief  in  Eneland,  12T. 
Causes  of  the  decline,  128.  Attempts  to 
revive  the  belief  by  accounts  of  witch 
trials  in  America,  137.  The  last  judicial 
executions  in  England,  139.  Repeal  of 
the  laws  against  witchcraft,  140.  John 
Wesley's  protest  against  the  disbelief  in 
•witchcraft,  140.  Moderation  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church  on  the  matter  as  compared 
with  Puritanism,  140.  Extreme  atrocity 
of  the  witch  persecution  in  Scotland.,  and 
its  causes,  143.  Decline  of  the  belief  in 
witchcraft  in  Scotland,  151.  The  last  exe- 
cution of  a  witch  in  that  country,  151. 
Review  of  the  rise,  progress,  and  decline 
of  the  belief,  152,  158 

Witch-finders  in  England  during  the  Com- 
monwealth, i.  2S  note 

Witches.    See  Witchcraft 

Wolves,  veneration  of  the  ancient  Irish  for, 
i,  95  note 

Women,  diatribes  of  ancient  authors  on,  i. 
9S.  99.  Superstitious  notion  of.  respecting 
eating  the  lily,  225.  Influence  of  the  me- 
dia'val  conception  of  the  Virgin  in  elevat- 
ing women  to  their  rightful  position.  226 

Wurtzburg.  great  number  of  witches  put  to 
death  at,  i.  29 


Wycliffe,  his  liberal  opinions,  ii.  163.  Hit 
opposition  to  slavery,  168 

Windmills,  invention  of,  ii.  332.  The  earli- 
est notice  ot,  332  note 


X,  the,  of  the  early  Chrts- 
A    tians,  ii.  238 

~V"ORK  Minster,  Smollett's  remarks  on,  1. 
I      2ft4 


F7ACHARY,  Pope,  heads  the  attack  on  the 

Li    views  of  St.  Virgilius,  i.  280 

Zerta.  synod  of.  pronounces  in  favour  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  damnation  of  the  heathen, 
i.  377  note 

Zoroaster,  otherwise  Japhet,  supposed  by 
the  Cabalists  to  have  been  a  son  of  Xoah 
and  Vesta,  i.  67  note 

Zosimns,  bis  remarks  on  Constantino's  se- 
verity against  the  Aruspices,  i.  52  note 

Zuinglius,  his  career  compared  with  that  of 
Socinus,  i.  372.  Part  taken  by  him  in  the 
Eucharistic  controversy,  372.  Rejects 
original  sin.  373.  His  view  attacked  bv 
Bossuet,  373  note.  His  repudiation  of  ex- 
clusive salvation.  3>2.  His  aversion  to 
persecution,  ii.  51.  His  libtral  political 
principles,  1G9 


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HISTORICAL  REFERENCE- BOOK, 

COMPRISING 

A    Chronological    Table  of  Universal  History,  a   Chronological  Diction- 
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The  arrangement  could  scarcely  be  better  or  more  convenient." — New  York  Herald. 

"The  conspectus  of  the  world's  history  presented  in  the  first  part  of  the  book  ieas 
full  as  the  wisest  terseness  could  put  %\  ithin  the  spare." — J'/iiladtlptiia  American. 

"  We  miss  hardly  anything1  that  we  should  consider  desirable,  and  we  have  not  been 
able  to  detect  a  single  mistake  or  misprint.'" — New  York  Nation. 

"So  far  as  we  have  tested  the  accuracy  of  the  present  work  we  have  found  it  with- 
out flaw."' — Christian  Union. 

"  The  conspicuous  merits  of  the  work  are  condensation  and  accuracy.  These  points 
alone  should  suffice  to  five  the  •  Historical  Reference-Book  '  a  place  in  every  public 
and  private  library."— Boston  Beacon. 

"The  method  of  the  tabulation  is  admirable  for  ready  reference." — New  York 
Home  Journ'il. 

'•This  cyclopedia  of  conden-ed  knowl*  dcro  is  a  work  that  will  speedily  become  a 
necessity  to  the  general  reader,  as  well  as  to  the  student." — Detroit  Free  I'rcs*. 

'•  For  clearness  correctness,  and  the  readiness  with  which  the  reader  can  find  the 
information  of  which  he  is  in  search,  the  volume  is  far  in  advance  of  any  work  of  its 
kind  with  which  we  are  acquainted."' — ]io*toii  Saturday  Eteniny  Guz'tte. 

•'The  latc.-t  dutes  have  been  <_'iven.  The  yeoyraphicril  notes  irfiic/i  ncrr,n>p<rny 
the  fiis'fir'int'  i),r>ii<-niii  ar<  a  rifin-l  ail.ili/i'in.  ami  exceedingly  h'tpfiil.  The  size  also 
commends  it.  making  it  convenient  for  constant  reference,  while  the  three  divisions 
and  careful  elimination  of  minor  and  uninterestiii-'  incidents  make  it  much  easier  to 
find  d:,te-  ::r.d  events  about  which  accuracy  is  ]ieces>ary.  Sir  William  Hamilton  avers 
that  to. i  rete'itive  a  im-mory  tends  to  hin-'er  the  development  of  the  .judgment  by  pre- 
senting to  i  ui'ich  'or  decision.  A  work  like  thU  ;s  thus  better  than  memnvy.  It  is  a 
'mental  bi-'ii-r'  which  nee:U  no  care,  and  whose  contents  are  ever  available.'' — J>ew 
York  l/ih<-r.*i(y  ^uarUrly. 

New  York:  D.  APFLETOX  X  CO..  1,  3,  &  5  Bond  St-reet. 


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